America has contracted the maze disease, and it continues to fester. In other words, even if large corporations with deep hierarchies are actually less prevalent than they once were, the maze cultures in those that exist are far, far more developed.
Some evidence in support of this hypothesis (and by extension, Zvi’s claim that mazes are on the rise) is the prevalence of oligopolies in America and the world. It’s hard to buy affordable food without indirectly buying from Nestle for example, and in many of America’s food deserts the only nearby place to buy food in the first place is a supermarket that’s part of a massive chain. Most Americans have only 1-3 options when it comes to internet service providers, and media companies like Disney routinely buy or merge with their competition (which somewhat prevents startups from being as disruptive to deep hierarchies as they could otherwise be).
I’m somewhat suspicious of this explanation, because in a culture where non-maze opportunities are opening up more and more, it seems like mazes should die. I think people’s behavior is more dependent on context than it is on these subtle cultural influences, so I expect to see larger effect sizes from incentive structures changing than from negative cultures slowly festering over time. But perhaps it’s a factor.
Even when people choose to buy from individuals, they often do so through corporate mediators. For example, to reach an audience, an indie musician will probably upload their music to DistroKid which will allow people to download or stream the music through other corporate platforms; in some sense, this makes the musicians beholden in some way to the whims of DistroKid’s and other corporations’ whims. Similarly, people who design their own crafts or clothing can sell them online independently, but much of this business takes place through a platform like Etsy or Redbubble which likewise introduces a maze to an otherwise individualized and direct process/transaction. Ridesharing services, Airbnb, and the rise of the “gig economy” fit into the same pattern of individual, atomically voluntary participation at the bottom of what is ultimately a deep hierarchy.
Thus, there may be fewer giant corporations in America than there were 60-70 years ago, but those that remain seem to have deeper hierarchies than ever because incentive structures favor participation in corporate hierarchies even in a culture of independence and self-sufficiency. In that sense, I think your intuition that incentive structures overpower cultural influence is correct, but I disagree about which element favors/disfavors mazes.
Some evidence in support of this hypothesis (and by extension, Zvi’s claim that mazes are on the rise) is the prevalence of oligopolies in America and the world. It’s hard to buy affordable food without indirectly buying from Nestle for example, and in many of America’s food deserts the only nearby place to buy food in the first place is a supermarket that’s part of a massive chain. Most Americans have only 1-3 options when it comes to internet service providers, and media companies like Disney routinely buy or merge with their competition (which somewhat prevents startups from being as disruptive to deep hierarchies as they could otherwise be).
My contention (based on The Refragmentation) is that this is much less true than it was in 1950; if not in food, then still, in many other sectors of the market.
But it’s possible that this wan only the case for a period around the 90s or something, and the fragmentation has reversed in recent years.
Even when people choose to buy from individuals, they often do so through corporate mediators. For example, to reach an audience, an indie musician will probably upload their music to DistroKid which will allow people to download or stream the music through other corporate platforms; in some sense, this makes the musicians beholden in some way to the whims of DistroKid’s and other corporations’ whims.
I’ve never heard of DistroKid and expected you to say BandCamp or SoundCloud. This is minor evidence against the claim. But some variety doesn’t mean a lot of variety (IE there could be just three choices).
Still, musicians are far less beholden to these platforms than they were to big record companies of the past, which dictated musical fashion to a far greater degree.
But again, these are newer companies, so we need a different explanation of why they have deeper mazes.
Ridesharing services, Airbnb, and the rise of the “gig economy” fit into the same pattern of individual, atomically voluntary participation at the bottom of what is ultimately a deep hierarchy.
Definitely agree with this one. The choice between driving for traditional taxi companies, uber, or lyft isn’t much of a choice.
These are newer companies, but in this case there’s a ready explanation for why they have deeper mazes: many relatively small and local taxi companies have been replaced by just two ride-share companies. I don’t know the statistics, but it would make perfect sense if these companies have deeper mazes simply because they are larger than traditional taxi companies.
The same explanation holds for amazon vs everything it replaces.
Some evidence in support of this hypothesis (and by extension, Zvi’s claim that mazes are on the rise) is the prevalence of oligopolies in America and the world. It’s hard to buy affordable food without indirectly buying from Nestle for example, and in many of America’s food deserts the only nearby place to buy food in the first place is a supermarket that’s part of a massive chain. Most Americans have only 1-3 options when it comes to internet service providers, and media companies like Disney routinely buy or merge with their competition (which somewhat prevents startups from being as disruptive to deep hierarchies as they could otherwise be).
Even when people choose to buy from individuals, they often do so through corporate mediators. For example, to reach an audience, an indie musician will probably upload their music to DistroKid which will allow people to download or stream the music through other corporate platforms; in some sense, this makes the musicians beholden in some way to the whims of DistroKid’s and other corporations’ whims. Similarly, people who design their own crafts or clothing can sell them online independently, but much of this business takes place through a platform like Etsy or Redbubble which likewise introduces a maze to an otherwise individualized and direct process/transaction. Ridesharing services, Airbnb, and the rise of the “gig economy” fit into the same pattern of individual, atomically voluntary participation at the bottom of what is ultimately a deep hierarchy.
Thus, there may be fewer giant corporations in America than there were 60-70 years ago, but those that remain seem to have deeper hierarchies than ever because incentive structures favor participation in corporate hierarchies even in a culture of independence and self-sufficiency. In that sense, I think your intuition that incentive structures overpower cultural influence is correct, but I disagree about which element favors/disfavors mazes.
My contention (based on The Refragmentation) is that this is much less true than it was in 1950; if not in food, then still, in many other sectors of the market.
But it’s possible that this wan only the case for a period around the 90s or something, and the fragmentation has reversed in recent years.
I’ve never heard of DistroKid and expected you to say BandCamp or SoundCloud. This is minor evidence against the claim. But some variety doesn’t mean a lot of variety (IE there could be just three choices).
Still, musicians are far less beholden to these platforms than they were to big record companies of the past, which dictated musical fashion to a far greater degree.
But again, these are newer companies, so we need a different explanation of why they have deeper mazes.
Definitely agree with this one. The choice between driving for traditional taxi companies, uber, or lyft isn’t much of a choice.
These are newer companies, but in this case there’s a ready explanation for why they have deeper mazes: many relatively small and local taxi companies have been replaced by just two ride-share companies. I don’t know the statistics, but it would make perfect sense if these companies have deeper mazes simply because they are larger than traditional taxi companies.
The same explanation holds for amazon vs everything it replaces.