3 ms·
Yeah it is a common mistake made by free market folks: Competition will drive down prices, increase speed and result in the best possible customer service! Ex
by georgemcbay 13y ago
Yeah it is a common mistake made by free market folks:
Competition will drive down prices, increase speed and result in the best possible customer service!
Except that in markets with expensive outlays to get started that rarely happens because the expenses put a natural limiter on the amount of people that can actually mount competition making that number low enough that the competitors can essentially carve up the market, price fix and then all suck approximately equally, indefinitely. Just like ISPs and cell phone carriers do now (and will continue to do so until the government steps in and forces them to fix their shit).
- jessaustin 13y agoIf one must generalize, I think we should say that competition tends to benefit the consumer, and fortunately competition often arises spontaneously, but there are many factors that can disrupt this virtuous process.
- trobertson 13y ago> competition tends to benefit the consumer In regulated markets. After all, things like anti-cartel laws are regulations, and we absolutely do need those.
- jessaustin 13y agoThere are better examples one could use. After all encouraging competition isn't really the point of cartels.
- pohl 13y agoI think the point was that cartels will form in a regulatory vacuum and therefore the intrinsic virtues of market forces are oft overstated.