In business, ‘big’ doesn’t always mean ‘bad’
Monopolies, of course, can do a lot of harm. The late 19th and early 20th century trusts that dominated everything from oil to sugar were nearly all corrupt, cronyistic institutions that relied on underhanded tactics to maintain market position. Even less rapacious monopolies like the old New Jersey-based AT&T — which once owned nearly every telephone in the country — proved themselves to be staid and inefficient. Although some later-day critics find “monopolies” in markets that appear highly competitive by commonsense measures, there’s a near universal consensus amongst economists that monopolies on sales gained through unfair means are almost always bad for consumers.
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