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From the abstract, "This requires an implicit agreement which can be coordinated by sector-wide cost shocks and supply bottlenecks" Can you help me distinguish

• metaphor 3y ago
  You quoted Smith Chapter X Part II, whose argument in context is that the pressure of competition quickly kills attempts at collusion, while surviving conspiracies are enabled by regulation. The paper contrasts commodities from all other concentrated markets; whereas the former is expected to have an impulse transient response whose price discovery quickly settles by way of competitive forces consistent with Smith, the latter has a salient capacity as price maker to play games. Megacorps and multi-nationals weren't exactly meta in the 18th century. Exponential tech complexity, sector consolidation, global economies of scale, regulatory capture, the speed of information and capacity of market participants to meaningfully act are just a few modern barriers to entry in concentrated markets suppressing the notional competition that Smith leans heavily into.
  • pjmorris 3y ago
    To be clear, I was not quoting Smith in support of his contextual argument, but in recognition of what appears to be a universal human tendency that remains. I deliberately did not quote the following "But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies, much less to render them necessary." In light of present data, a case could be made for law.