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Having a friend who ran a bar opened my eyes to market consolidation in the beer industry, but a quick web search turns up information on market consolidation[0

Having a friend who ran a bar opened my eyes to market consolidation in the beer industry, but a quick web search turns up information on market consolidation[0] too. You write as if the concept of the dangers of market consolidation is new to you, although I'm skeptical. For readers seeking to know more about the ways monopoly power can be corrosive, try reading Matt Stoller[1]. His book Goliath was eye-opening for me. 0. https://theweek.com/articles/736059/what-beer-reveals-about-monopoly-power https://theweek.com/articles/736059/what-beer-reveals-about-... 1. https://mattstoller.substack.com/about https://mattstoller.substack.com/about

deadpannini 4y ago
I didn't mean to give off a faux-naif vibe. I'm aware that people are concerned about market consolidation as such, but I'm not impressed. Anti-monopolists like Stoller lack rigor. They often zoom in and out of geographical focus to make their points, carve industries and products up in bizarre ways to do the same, and typically make their case on short time horizons. I promise, I hate, e.g., the local cable internet monopoly as much as anyone, but Starlink and our municipal fiber initiative are going to crush them. That's not to say there's never a role for government intervention, but I think we're all much better off approaching the exercise of that power with caution, and more likely to make headway against the purported social ills if we stop shadowboxing against consolidation. Regarding the beer industry, the article you linked from TheWeek[0] is mostly hand-waving. Put aside the fact that I can (and do) buy %90 of my beer now from one of the dozen local to local-ish New England breweries near my small town. Put aside the fact that I have more options than ever, at competitive inflation-adjusted prices [1]. It makes the case that several giants dominate the mass-market beer business, fine. But what are the harms of that consolidation? It alleges: - "a long decline in beer prices reversed over the last few years" (see my footnote 1) - "AB InBev [one of the beer giants] is even buying up beer reviewing websites and delivery operations now." and "if a massive brewer can own a stake in a major beer rating site, it could well influence what beers that outfit recommends to customers in the first place." (emphasis mine) And that's it. The stake in the review website is kind of gross, I agree, but I find that hard to lay at the feet of market consolidation. 0. https://theweek.com/articles/736059/what-beer-reveals-about-monopoly-power https://theweek.com/articles/736059/what-beer-reveals-about-... 1. The 2017 NYT article linked by TheWeek is evidence against this, but only weak evidence. I didn't have time to dig deeply into it, but noticed that it raises the alarm based on a small price increase over a very short timescale. Moreover, it merely assumes that consolidation is driving that price increase.

deadpannini 4y ago

I didn't mean to give off a faux-naif vibe. I'm aware that people are concerned about market consolidation as such, but I'm not impressed. Anti-monopolists like Stoller lack rigor. They often zoom in and out of geographical focus to make their points, carve industries and products up in bizarre ways to do the same, and typically make their case on short time horizons. I promise, I hate, e.g., the local cable internet monopoly as much as anyone, but Starlink and our municipal fiber initiative are going to crush them. That's not to say there's never a role for government intervention, but I think we're all much better off approaching the exercise of that power with caution, and more likely to make headway against the purported social ills if we stop shadowboxing against consolidation. Regarding the beer industry, the article you linked from TheWeek[0] is mostly hand-waving. Put aside the fact that I can (and do) buy %90 of my beer now from one of the dozen local to local-ish New England breweries near my small town. Put aside the fact that I have more options than ever, at competitive inflation-adjusted prices [1]. It makes the case that several giants dominate the mass-market beer business, fine. But what are the harms of that consolidation? It alleges: - "a long decline in beer prices reversed over the last few years" (see my footnote 1) - "AB InBev [one of the beer giants] is even buying up beer reviewing websites and delivery operations now." and "if a massive brewer can own a stake in a major beer rating site, it could well influence what beers that outfit recommends to customers in the first place." (emphasis mine) And that's it. The stake in the review website is kind of gross, I agree, but I find that hard to lay at the feet of market consolidation. 0. https://theweek.com/articles/736059/what-beer-reveals-about-monopoly-power https://theweek.com/articles/736059/what-beer-reveals-about-... 1. The 2017 NYT article linked by TheWeek is evidence against this, but only weak evidence. I didn't have time to dig deeply into it, but noticed that it raises the alarm based on a small price increase over a very short timescale. Moreover, it merely assumes that consolidation is driving that price increase.