Market Concentration and Efficiency

The self-correcting property of the competitive marketplace, which drives efficiency (via the so-called ‘invisible hand’), depends—among other factors—upon large numbers of both buyers and sellers, acting independently; none with enough power to individually affect the equilibrium price.

This is not advanced theory, and it's not in dispute; it’s Econ 101.

These conditions clearly don’t exist in many of our major industries; Insurance, Pharmaceuticals, Banking and Finance, Energy, Communications, among many others. It’s naïve, at best, to accept free market efficiency arguments to justify not regulating these highly-concentrated sectors, where no true free market exists. 

Not surprisingly, those who reap huge rewards from these market distortions disagree. A mere slipstream of their surplus profits—diverted to a lobbying and disinformation campaign—is often enough to prevent or overwhelm any drive toward meaningful reform.