We should redefine monopoly according to effects rather than numbers of companies or percentage of markets. There are few actual mono monopolies. There are quadropolies and septopolies all over, with few enough players that surreptitious price fixing is not difficult. There are multiple quadropolies in agriculture that control 75+% of the US market, from meat packing to corn seed.
The DOJ is now investigating the six or so companies that have been buying up residential real estate and colluding through an online real estate portal. No one of them alone would be considered a monopoly, but the cumulative effect is the same. As a group they should be regulated as a monopoly.
We should redefine monopoly according to effects rather than numbers of companies or percentage of markets. There are few actual mono monopolies. There are quadropolies and septopolies all over, with few enough players that surreptitious price fixing is not difficult. There are multiple quadropolies in agriculture that control 75+% of the US market, from meat packing to corn seed.
The DOJ is now investigating the six or so companies that have been buying up residential real estate and colluding through an online real estate portal. No one of them alone would be considered a monopoly, but the cumulative effect is the same. As a group they should be regulated as a monopoly.