Quote Originally Posted by Renton View Post
My point was that (using your example, not mine) if the Would-Be Competitor's overhead is less than the estimated competitive market value of £5, then he could still enter, even though he won't get the additional £3. If you're claiming that by merely entering the market, he would lower the market value from £5 to even lower, that sort of invalidates idea of a £5 "competitive market value," doesn't it? This harks back to what I was saying about being careful with that term. If there is only one reasonable route between point A and point B, then necessarily that is a very valuable road. It isn't gouging to attempt to sell your product for as much as you can if its a legitimately invaluable product. The "monopolist" is well within his right to charge a high price, and a high price is a merely a problem for the market to solve.

There's only a monopoly if the incumbent is actively sabotaging alternatives from emerging. It is quite difficult to do this without the use of force or state influence, both of which are morally wrong and hopefully illegal.



I'm a realist. If there's a stateless world in our future, I'm sure it is hundreds or thousands of years away. I prefer to apply free-market sensibilities to expected reality. My personal opinion is that anti-monopoly laws do more harm than good, and that true monopolies are nearly impossible to form. I can safely assume that a minimally-corrupt state will squash anything that even comes remotely close to the type of monopoly you're imagining here, for better or worse.
I worded that badly. It would still be £5 per car. However demand receives at £5 per car, which would have to be the minimum profitable price, would be split between 2 roads. So your return on investment would be much lower than normal which means you'd be likely to seek alternative investments instead.