How does the nation-state protect shareholder’s? It is often the government that steps in to break up monopolies. Rich people know how to make money, form a monopoly corporation with the other rich people and exploit the workers.
Discussion
Have you thought about how many pages of regulations are written and re-written to do this? The number of Federal agencies tasked with investigating and managing this? The court time, at all levels?
Rich people can only do this if taxpayers are footing the gargantuan bill, and public security forces are standing guard.
Do you think it is government that enables corporations to create monopolies? I thought Laissez-faire economics was desirable because government crippled business?
Corporations are government writ small.
As recently as 1800, a majority of Westerners were self-employed, running their own businesses.
Monopolies cannot exist in a truly free market. proper competion breaks monopolies. States prevent proper competion.
in fact one might argue that the number one and perhaps ONLY purpose and goal of the State is preventing proper competition.
(probably because truly free competion would come for the State itself and it is the weakest target exactly because it didn't arise/evolve as a success case in the free market of competition, therefore it has no competencies beyond cheating)
100% agree.
A State is nothing if not a set of monopolies, insiders leveraging each into gaining the next.
Dispute resolution monopoly, policing monopoly, defence monopoly, healthcare monopoly, education monopoly, transport infrastructure monopoly. Religious experience monopoly. Many states lack some of these, no state lacks all.
I believe monopolies CAN (rarely) be constructed ab inito, but they are usually unstable unless and until they coalesce into a State.