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Of course you can. Competition and free markets are orthogonal concepts. Competition is a process that exists within any regulatory framework, while free market

Of course you can. Competition and free markets are orthogonal concepts. Competition is a process that exists within any regulatory framework, while free markets refer to the extent and stability of the regulations. Infrastructure is the usual example. If your company owns something like a cellular network or a local power grid, the EU requires that you let other businesses use it for a fair price to sell their services to customers. This regulation creates more competition and lowers the prices for customers, while simultaneously making businesses more efficient and less profitable.

ClumsyPilot 5y ago
"Competition and free markets are orthogonal concepts." Surely a marjet without competition, i.e. monopolised, is no longer free? Or what does 'free' mean?
- kome 5y ago
  > Or what does 'free' mean? it depends to whom you ask. in the US, for a long time, anti-trust was kinda cozy with monopolies - they were accepted as the natural outcome of a free market: the most efficient solution. In the EU there is more emphasis on market competition, and big monopolists are seen as problematic.
  - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
    "natural outcome of a free market: the most efficient solution." The same argument that justifies monopoly also justifies soviet-style central planning. It just changed the 'monopolist' in charge.
nickpp 5y ago
EU had to add regulation to allow startups using other's infrastructure because of the existing regulation that makes laying said infrastructure so difficult. Do not confuse regulations made to fix even worse regulation with an actual healthy, competitive free market. In Eastern Europe, after the fall of communism, people would lay Ethernet wire between apartment buildings to create ad-hoc communication networks. There were dozens of them. Today that is illegal and we only have a single Internet provider per city block.

ClumsyPilot 5y ago

"Competition and free markets are orthogonal concepts." Surely a marjet without competition, i.e. monopolised, is no longer free? Or what does 'free' mean?

kome 5y ago
> Or what does 'free' mean? it depends to whom you ask. in the US, for a long time, anti-trust was kinda cozy with monopolies - they were accepted as the natural outcome of a free market: the most efficient solution. In the EU there is more emphasis on market competition, and big monopolists are seen as problematic.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  "natural outcome of a free market: the most efficient solution." The same argument that justifies monopoly also justifies soviet-style central planning. It just changed the 'monopolist' in charge.

nickpp 5y ago

EU had to add regulation to allow startups using other's infrastructure because of the existing regulation that makes laying said infrastructure so difficult. Do not confuse regulations made to fix even worse regulation with an actual healthy, competitive free market. In Eastern Europe, after the fall of communism, people would lay Ethernet wire between apartment buildings to create ad-hoc communication networks. There were dozens of them. Today that is illegal and we only have a single Internet provider per city block.