3 ms·
There's no such thing as a “competitive market” in the real world.
by littlestymaar 1y ago
There's no such thing as a “competitive market” in the real world.
- samdoesnothing 1y agoYes there is.
- littlestymaar 1y agoName a single one then. It's funny to see that this was my most downvoted comment ever on HN. Looks like blasphemy against the “free market” religion isn't tolerated here.
- frollogaston 1y agoAll the other kinds of insurance
- littlestymaar 1y agoAh yes, like the health insurance market, so competitive it took a CEO murder to fix abusive practices from the dominant actor. How compelling of an example, really.
- frollogaston 1y agoTo clarify, "other kinds of insurance" means not health insurance
- ninalanyon 1y agoYou first have to agree on a definition of free in this context. When Adam Smith was writing the Wealth of Nations most of the transactions in the market were between entities with more or less comparable power. Local people bought stuff from local suppliers. This is very much not the case any more when it comes to transactions involving private individuals on one side and corporations on the other.
- frollogaston 1y agoThis is true but beside the point. I don't care either way what you count as a "free" market or whether such a thing exists, you can just say that health insurance is less free than almost any other market.
- itsmek 1y agoGlobal commodities are not competitive?
- littlestymaar 1y agoWhat commodity isn't ruled by intergovernmental agreements, a cartel, a monopsony or something else? Please name just one.
- itsmek 1y agoGold
- littlestymaar 1y agoGold isn't really a commodity. It's mostly used and traded as an asset.