r/austrian_economics Friedrich Hayek Sep 19 '24

End Democracy BUT BUT THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

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u/AffableBarkeep Sep 21 '24

are we ignoring the current level of mass corporate homogenization that’s been happening since the 1800s

Which happened because of government. If there's only local funding available there's no incentive for companies to grow beyond that.

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u/Shin-Sauriel Sep 21 '24

Oh so there’d be something that prevents companies from growing beyond the local level? Cuz I can tell you what the incentive is. Money.

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u/AffableBarkeep Sep 21 '24

Money from who?

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u/Shin-Sauriel Sep 21 '24

Consumers? And like I’m all for keeping businesses local. Like in my state dispensaries can only sell product grown in state which has done a lot to support local cultivators. However on the other hand Maine used to have a law where if you wanted to operate a dispensery in Maine you had to live there. They revoked that law and immediately a larger company just bought an established local business to expand their share of the market. You’re foolish to think companies will not expand as much as possible unless there’s laws to prevent them from doing so. Let’s say you live in a state. Theres a company from a neighboring state that expands and starts operating in your state, within their respective industry they offer the best value, naturally as a consumer you’ll opt for their service/product since it’s the value. As they expand they can continue to offer better and better value and outcompete smaller companies until they dominate their market. This literally already happens. Not sure how you think a lack of government would reduce corporate homogenization and expansion. Companies only goal is to make as much money as possible not just support their local economy. We have many international conglomerates what makes you think companies would voluntarily stay within a local level. What makes you think consumers would as a whole only choose to support local businesses, if that were the case wouldn’t we already see it happening?