[governance] reality check on economics

[Avri Doria]

On 18 May 2012, at 12:51, Milton L Mueller wrote:

> 
> But if these markets are competitive then no one is requiring consumers to use those online businesses, no? So we are back to the problem of monopoly

Certainly in many of the American and European countries people have a choice (i hate thinking of people as consumers - as it signifies that their role as part of so called market is their only relevance).  But i have been given to understand, and my knowledge is second hand because I have not researched it myself, that in many areas in Asia and Africa, and perhaps some in the Americas and Europe, large parts of the population are captive of one company or another, i.e some of these companies get local monopoly, for some definition of local.

The question i have then, beyond the regional/local problem of countries etc that allow such local capture, is there a global way to help with this.  I think there may be, and thus it is worth discussing.  Except for a very few companies, and these rather incompletely, most companies do not make social ethics a high priority and thus will take market power whenever they can, by whatever means they can get it.  Unfortunately, it is only regulatory frameworks that stop most companies from this sort of behavior.  So what can be done at a global level to keep local/regional monopolies from happening.

avri


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