THE MONOPOLY

My name is Christopher Peter and welcome to The Christopher Peter Review.

One of my favorite board games to this day is still monopoly. Probably due to my economics background. In the game, the goal is secure enough economic power, where you eventually drain your fellow players financially. In reality, this is not something desirable in the marketplace.

Generally, America does not support monopolies. The economic objective for policymakers is to foster competition to increase consumer choice and well being. There are some obvious exceptions. Utilities are traditionally monopolies in many areas. For some, increasing competition is viewed as a a bad thing.

Monopolies are beneficial from an operational perspective, where it is the most efficient form of production. From the consumer perspective, the market needs competition to drive prices down and really match consumer need to product availability. Competition also drives innovation in many industries as well.

In this podcast episode, I lead a discussion on the good, bad, and issues with monopolies and whether we are consistent with our antitrust position. Please experience this new podcast episode below.