Market Concentration Is Threatening the US Economy
project-syndicate.org
Market Concentration Is Threatening the US Economy
1–10 of 67 posts
Re: Market Concentration Is Threatening the US Economy
#2The irony of monopoly is that when broken upmitntypically benefits the former monopoly parts. Rockefeller Made more money after being broken up than he had as a monopolist. AT&T has underperformed since being reassembled from its post-breakup pieces, which had flourished with competition.
Re: Market Concentration Is Threatening the US Economy
#3The irony of monopoly is that when broken upmitntypically benefits the former monopoly parts. Rockefeller Made more money after being broken up than he had as a monopolist. AT&T has underperformed since being reassembled from its post-breakup pieces, which had flourished with competition.
Is that's the case then why don't companies voluntarily break up?
Re: Market Concentration Is Threatening the US Economy
#4The irony of monopoly is that when broken upmitntypically benefits the former monopoly parts. Rockefeller Made more money after being broken up than he had as a monopolist. AT&T has underperformed since being reassembled from its post-breakup pieces, which had flourished with competition.
The Rockefeller example, though frequently cited, is a red herring. Those companies were thereafter known as the "Seven Sisters" and not exactly known for truly competing with each other.
There was also a comment here I read recently about Rockefeller being a pretty activist shareholder, in the sense that he arranged meetings--using his considerable clout--among heads of the resulting companies, many of which were his most loyal former employees.
Re: Market Concentration Is Threatening the US Economy
#5The irony of monopoly is that when broken upmitntypically benefits the former monopoly parts. Rockefeller Made more money after being broken up than he had as a monopolist. AT&T has underperformed since being reassembled from its post-breakup pieces, which had flourished with competition.
[deleted]
Re: Market Concentration Is Threatening the US Economy
#6The irony of monopoly is that when broken upmitntypically benefits the former monopoly parts. Rockefeller Made more money after being broken up than he had as a monopolist. AT&T has underperformed since being reassembled from its post-breakup pieces, which had flourished with competition.
This is a side effect that I'm willing to deal with. The problem with monopoly is not so much about the concentration of individual wealth in my mind, it's about the lack of competition between companies which make investment in R&D and innovation less of a factor to success.
Rockefeller rightfully became more wealthy when he owned a large portion of stock in very successful, but highly competitive companies, as opposed to an unchallenged behemoth. It would be like splitting your stake in Walmart into equal shares of Amazon, Target and Dollar Tree.
Re: Market Concentration Is Threatening the US Economy
#7The irony of monopoly is that when broken upmitntypically benefits the former monopoly parts. Rockefeller Made more money after being broken up than he had as a monopolist. AT&T has underperformed since being reassembled from its post-breakup pieces, which had flourished with competition.
The Rockefeller example, though frequently cited, is a red herring. Those companies were thereafter known as the "Seven Sisters" and not exactly known for truly competing with each other. There was also a comment here I read recently about Rockefeller being a pretty activist shareholder, in the sense that he arranged meetings--using his considerable clout--among heads of the resulting companies, many of which were hi…
Right, ditto with AT&T. That's the point. Monopolies haven't always been able to resist being broken up -- but they have always been able to arrange the breakup so that the pieces don't compete and don't shift bargaining power to the consumer.
Re: Market Concentration Is Threatening the US Economy
#8The fundamental title and premise of the article is quite inaccurate.
https://tcdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/hh.mkt?country=BR...
Clearly market concentration has been going DOWN worldwide since 1988. It's important to get your basics correct.
Re: Market Concentration Is Threatening the US Economy
#9This is the inevitable result of efficiencies of scale. With computers, databases, instant communications, why would a business be restricted in anyway to expand as far as it can once it has perfected whatever it is selling.
In the long run, it would be beneficial for all consumers to be able to select from multiple sellers, but in the short term, it's beneficial for each consumer to purchase from the whomever is giving them the best value. That means everyone uses one of the top few banks, one of the top few retailers, one of the top few electronic device manufacturers, etc.
Re: Market Concentration Is Threatening the US Economy
#10The fundamental title and premise of the article is quite inaccurate. https://tcdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/hh.mkt?country=BR... Clearly market concentration has been going DOWN worldwide since 1988. It's important to get your basics correct.
The linked index is described as "Hirschman Herfindahl index is a measure of the dispersion of trade value across an exporter's partners." Can you expand on how this index relates to market concentration in general, or within a single nation like the US?