Here is an eye-opening piece on cartels and their influence on society.
A few notes:
- Cartels look like everything but mega-villains.
- For instance, doctors act as a cartel when US universities have a cap on the number of residency slots. US doctors are paid twice as much as European doctors as a result.
- Laws preventing new constructions favor existing landlords. Their economic and societal costs are large – many can’t afford the rent for a higher-paying job in a more expensive town.
- Universities have an accreditation system, which prevents new forms of education.
- The NCAA prevents students from being paid, while universities are cashing in.
- Taxi medallions maintained high transportation costs, until Uber came in.
- The biggest risk of an effective cartel is member discontent.
- The most efficient cartels are perfectly legal. They put forward public interest and product integrity issues to recruit governments.
- Cartels use non-profits and public relations very effectively.
- Big Tech is not the biggest threat.
- There are many active cartels right under our eyes.
The top of the article is below. Click on it to gain access to its entirety.
Credit to Philo, on philo.substack.com