People want to believe that the free market means tons of little companies duking it out.
It would be interesting to create an actual free market and see what happens.
But the fact is that there are massive business advantages to being big, and the natural state of the market is in the direction of consolidation
Keep in mind that the entire notion of a shared stock, limited liability corporation is a legal fiction which exists due to the State. Now one can certainly argue about whether or not the world is a better or worse place with or without corporations, but in a strict sense, corporations are a violation of the idea of a free market. Since one of the main arguments for corporations it they make it easier for people to pool their capital and build large companies, I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that a corporation-free world would be closer to "tons of little companies duking it out".
It would be interesting to create an actual free market and see what happens.
But the fact is that there are massive business advantages to being big, and the natural state of the market is in the direction of consolidation
Keep in mind that the entire notion of a shared stock, limited liability corporation is a legal fiction which exists due to the State. Now one can certainly argue about whether or not the world is a better or worse place with or without corporations, but in a strict sense, corporations are a violation of the idea of a free market. Since one of the main arguments for corporations it they make it easier for people to pool their capital and build large companies, I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that a corporation-free world would be closer to "tons of little companies duking it out".