Vitalik Buterin
@vitalik.eth
Is there a name for the type of government where the government pursues consumer protection, antitrust, etc policy by directly running one competitor in every important industry, instead of making rules for every participant?
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
Why would you expect this to work? State-run enterprises are not exactly great vehicles for creating competitive pressure
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padpad
@padpad
US Postal Service?
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
So subsidize the state offering sufficiently to exert strong downward price pressure… this means you’re dampening competition not promoting it Increase the pressure enough and the private sector become unviable
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Bravo Johnson
@bravojohnson
If there’s no state offering sufficiently to exert strong downward price pressure…private sector will cartelize
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
That happens anyway. The presence of USPS just made a duopoly a tripoly Can’t think of a sector where govt presence creates large n supplier markers
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Bravo Johnson
@bravojohnson
Healthcare
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
Is healthcare a natural oligopoly without government presence? I think it’s naturally local. Countries with weak or absent national health insurance tend to have lots of independent hospitals and private practices, not cartels Ie it isn’t govt presence that makes the difference
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Vitalik Buterin
@vitalik.eth
Insurance is what has the centralization pressure, not the clinics themselves.
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