Thread by @matthewstoller

Here's my stab at trying to explain why there are shortages everywhere. Basically a monopolist is a business model based on bottlenecking something, so to the extent you encourage monopolization, you get shortages. mattstoller.substack.com/p/counterfeit-…

The number one problem small business mention these days is shortages, either labor or product. The Fed's Beige Book two days ago mentioned shortage 80 times. This is a huge unstated political problem. mattstoller.substack.com/p/counterfeit-…

I've gotten a lot of feedback from consumers, business people and various workers on shortages they are seeing, and that info is super helpful. I've set up a form where you can share what you're seeing or or experiencing re: shortages. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…

There are a bunch of different ways monopolies reduce supply. The White House has a very good blog post on meatpackers inducing price hikes in the food sector while paying farmers less. whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…

There's also the Keurig interoperability problem, in which firms with market power intentionally make their products incompatible. It's why we lack enough plastic bags for vaccine production - the bags only work with proprietary machines. mattstoller.substack.com/p/why-are-ther…

Similarly, railroads hinder switching, which gums up transportation. wsj.com/articles/railr…

Then there's right to repair, which creates shortages. Why are there shortages of ice cream at McDonald's? We have enough cream and sugar! But McDonald's and equipment monopoly Middleby won't let franchises repair their machines so they can get more fees. mattstoller.substack.com/p/what-broken-…

Then there are infrastructure monopolies, everything from semiconductors to railroads to shipping, all of which need to be regulated or kept competitive, or both. But that's not happening, so there are cascading chain reactions among supply chains. mattstoller.substack.com/p/counterfeit-…

Finally there's economic discrimination, in which Walmart puts itself at the head of the line for supplies, depriving small firms of the ability to compete. This kills much of the market. cnn.com/2021/03/10/bus…

We're seeing the shortages that we’re having as a result of the the pandemic supply shock. But while Covid provided the spark, it also leveraged pre-existing fragilities existing all over the economy, including some shortages that were longstanding. mattstoller.substack.com/p/counterfeit-…