by Fred E. Foldvary, Senior EditorThe great evil in economics is
not communism, not socialism, not capitalism, not landlords or
bosses, not unions, not feudalism or industrialization or
automation, not progress or lack of it, and not any scarcity of
natural resources. No, the great evil in economics is COERCIVE
MONOPOLY. But what is "monopoly"? "Mono" means single, and
people usually think of a monopoly as a single seller. That is
what economists call an "absolute" monopoly. But that is only
one type of monopoly. The basic meaning of monopoly is that
there is no entry into the industry to expand the supply.
Therefore the existing firms, whether one or several, are the
single source of that product. To enter the industry, one cannot
obtain some input resources and expand the output. Instead, one
must buy out one of the existing firms. There is an "entry
monopoly" in which entry into the industry is impossible unless
one transfers a titles from one of the existing firms. Some
monopolies are legal monopolies, it