Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter
“Many mistakenly assume that, on a free market, high barriers to entry and start-up costs so privilege the monopolistic incumbents that it would be virtually impossible for other firms to compete. In such an environment, competition is said to either be improbable or impossible, or—where competition could presumably exist—it is said to be inconvenient or duplicative. Hopefully the reader can see the question-begging in such claims and how the conclusion is presupposed against competition—there is either said to be no competition or there is said to be too much competition. Thus, the public goods argument for ‘public utilities’ and the myth of ‘natural monopoly’ combine to argue that the state ought to provide certain services to prevent market failure and monopoly.” (08/21/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/telephone-and-brief-episode-imperfect-competition-1894-1906