On Monopoly II

I think everyone agrees that monopolies are bad for the economy (except the monopolists, of course). Why are monopolies bad? For starters, they have an incentive problem. Without competition, they have less reason to lower prices, improve their products, and innovate change. In most industries, consumers could choose to stop patronizing the monopoly business altogether. However, the more necessary the goods or services are to everyday life, the more willing consumers are to pay the higher prices for older products at lower quality. As soon as a little competition is introduced, the monopoly can no longer get away with it’s malfeasance with seeming impunity without going bankrupt. But what if competition is never allowed? What if the goods or services are necessary for people, and thus society, to function? What if consumers are coercively prohibited from simply ending their patronage? Then what incentives does the monopoly have to be concerned with satisfying willing consumers and maintaining market share? I dare say, it has little to none. So why aren’t you an anarchist, too? And that’s today’s two cents.

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Founder and editor of Everything-Voluntary.com and UnschoolingDads.com, Skyler is a husband and unschooling father of three beautiful children. His writings include the column series “One Voluntaryist’s Perspective” and “One Improved Unit,” and blog series “Two Cents“. Skyler also wrote the books No Hitting! and Toward a Free Society, and edited the books Everything Voluntary and Unschooling Dads. You can hear Skyler chatting away on his podcasts, Everything Voluntary and Thinking & Doing.