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Centralization promotes efficiency, until a problem happens. I can't seem to find anything in news headlines, probably because the event I remember hearing abo
by mjevans 4y ago
Centralization promotes efficiency, until a problem happens.
I can't seem to find anything in news headlines, probably because the event I remember hearing about likely happened before Google's founding (I think it was the 1990s or 1980s?); but at a point in time the plastic used for either all or a lot of ICs was manufactured in one single facility. That plant happened to catch fire and it was a major supply issue. Even if that event was really a hypothetical recounted by a professor years later just to educate the class, it does serve as a good example.
Markets are more stable with more than one single manufacturing site, more than one supplier. Economics will still push towards as much consolidation as possible, so for the good of countries and consumers, regulators must press on the scales and ensure _competition_ remains. Ideally every big country can at least pivot manufacturing centers to be entirely self sufficient if they need. Maybe superpowers have multiple facilities even for small items. Maybe groups of countries (E.G. the EU, NATO, etc) pool their resources and distribute manufacturing accordingly.
Shipping also isn't free and externalities like pollution should not be allowed; they should be part of the cost to ensure that smart decisions about production happen.
- philipkglass 4y agoYou're probably thinking of the 1993 explosion at Sumitomo Chemical Company's plant that made epoxy resin for semiconductors: "Semiconductor Industry Faces Problems After Resin Plant Explosion" https://apnews.com/article/8fe2925b68d34d33f19a53e4892c74a2 https://apnews.com/article/8fe2925b68d34d33f19a53e4892c74a2 It caused a significant spike in DRAM prices: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-08-06-9308060189-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-08-06-930806... Today's low personal computer prices, particularly those on machines made by smaller companies, are likely soon to shoot up more than $100 per machine because of a panic in the world memory-chip market. Prices already have doubled for computer owners who want to expand the capacity of their machines to handle memory-hungry new programs based on Macintosh System 7 or on Microsoft Windows or the OS/2 operating system for IBM compatibles, industry officials said. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-08-06-9308060189-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-08-06-930806...
- mjevans 4y agoThat's close enough that it's probably the event. It might have been slightly oversimplified or 2 decades of neuron decay since I heard about it Nth hand yielding the same effect.
- concordDance 4y ago> regulators must press on the scales and ensure _competition_ remains An expectation of surge pricing may also work here. Figuring out some standard contract wording that quickly pushes the price spike all the way down the supply chain to the consumer and publishing it might help. > Shipping also isn't free and externalities like pollution should not be allowed Hard to regulate that without a world government.