I agree that the Ticketmaster scenario demonstrates the problem. But then, I have a lot of libertarian sympathies, but I’m not really libertarian.
I do observe, however, that only certain markets work that way. It seems that those are markets where the monopolist is much larger than the individual seller. That covers companies like Ticketmaster (Madison Square Garden is big, but it’s nothing compared to Ticketmaster), Amazon, and Nintendo. But if some car dealership tried to force Toyota into an exclusivity deal, Toyota would just say “no, we’re fine having our own dealers”—they’re big enough to have economy of scale even without the reseller. Also, the product can’t be a commodity—forcing a farmer into an exclusivity deal with a supermarket wouldn’t do much good, since other supermarkets are fine with other farmers. Even forcing Kraft into an exclusivity deal wouldn’t do much good.
I can’t actually think of a lot of scenarios other than intellectual property, tickets, and the non-IP part of Amazon where this happens.
I agree that the Ticketmaster scenario demonstrates the problem. But then, I have a lot of libertarian sympathies, but I’m not really libertarian.
I do observe, however, that only certain markets work that way. It seems that those are markets where the monopolist is much larger than the individual seller. That covers companies like Ticketmaster (Madison Square Garden is big, but it’s nothing compared to Ticketmaster), Amazon, and Nintendo. But if some car dealership tried to force Toyota into an exclusivity deal, Toyota would just say “no, we’re fine having our own dealers”—they’re big enough to have economy of scale even without the reseller. Also, the product can’t be a commodity—forcing a farmer into an exclusivity deal with a supermarket wouldn’t do much good, since other supermarkets are fine with other farmers. Even forcing Kraft into an exclusivity deal wouldn’t do much good.
I can’t actually think of a lot of scenarios other than intellectual property, tickets, and the non-IP part of Amazon where this happens.