If detecting industry consolidation was easy, we would be able to easily prevent it and have the free market do its thing. Alas, this is not the case, as defini

If detecting industry consolidation was easy, we would be able to easily prevent it and have the free market do its thing. Alas, this is not the case, as definitions of markets, market share, competitors, etc., can be pretty vague. As for the most recent spike in price of eggs a quick search showed https://farmaction.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Farm-Action-Letter-to-FTC-Chair-Lina-Khan.pdf https://farmaction.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Farm-Action... which yes, is prepared by the smaller competitors of the larger conglomerates, but it does present some factual information. Including very small decrease in egg production, high degree of industry consolidation, with one company controlling about 20% of the entire market (and the company saw 600% increase in profits). Here https://www.forbes.com/sites/daniellenierenberg/2023/01/27/cracking-open-the-issue-of-high-egg-prices/?sh=30a0b2b02c09 https://www.forbes.com/sites/daniellenierenberg/2023/01/27/c... you can see more analysis and other examples of industries that are even more consolidated, e.g., 4 companies control 70% of the pork producing market, other 4 companies control about 80% of beef producing market. Look at finance. Look at IT. Consolidation is everywhere. It is natural direction of free markets and, if left unchecked, causes massive disruptions of free market mechanisms.