Been thinking about this. If you have no government, how do you prevent this situation:
Someone out competes in the market,
Grows into a corporation / centralized power.
Everyone becomes dependent on them
Creates rules that govern their customers
Or does the culture just have to change so much that society denies them?
Can anarchy scale or is it just as unrealistic as socialism is?
Most monopoly or duopoly situations persist due to government capture i.e. burdensome regulations on competitors and favoritism through lobbying efforts that startups likely cannot affort.
GM, exactly
As Mises says:
„The great monopoly problem mankind has to face today is not an outgrowth of the operation of the market economy. It is a product of purposive action on the part of governments. It is not one of the evils inherent in capitalism as the demagogues trumpet. It is, on the contrary, the fruit of policies hostile to capitalism and intent upon sabotaging and destroying its operation.“
He explains it in long form in chapter XVI of Human Action. It’s free to read:
