Barriers Functioning as Regulations Against Competition

Imagine there were a resource that is cheap to extract and present, although plentiful therein, in only one place. Then anyone who owned the land on which it was situated would have a monopoly and could charge outrageous prices. Furthermore, they would have to do almost no work themselves in order to make this fortune. Isn't private property, in this case, a barrier to competition?



And while that is an idealized scenario, is the situation really that different for oil tycoons and states which are still sucking oil out of the same well decades after its discovery (which may have been enabled by foreign explorers in the first place)? Is it all that different from diamond mines in South Africa?

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In total, De Beers generated an underlying operating profit of $1 billion (£598m) in 2013, a 112% increase on its 2012 full-year results, reflecting the group’s increased shareholding, together with improved prices, largely owing to the product mix, and a weaker rand.

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Likewise, things that may be cheap to discover and patent (made such only by very recent advantages) yield similar barriers to competition - making some people very rich for providing only trivial contributions of time and effort to society.



It seems to me that advantages from location can defeat market efficiency.



Should society do more to combat or regulate these forms of monopolies? What is a better way to manage these things?



Minorwork created an earlier thread with a similar title:

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Quote by: minorwork

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"Startups argue that regulators are holding back innovation; regulators believe that consumer safety and fraud prevention is at stake." ~ Christina Farr

The startups have given voice in their defense, but I can't see any defense voiced by the regulators addressing consumer safety and fraud. I blame the author. If the regulators had offered nothing or clammed up when queried about the safety and fraud issues then the author should have said so.



Are the regulators concerned that Amazon and Google will be getting inept coders? I'm guessing that both can detect ineptness fine without having some regulated state licensed mediocrity sticking its nose into the tent.

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