Competition and Monopoly
About this episode
Tate Fegley argues against the notion that free markets tend toward monopoly and discusses the implications of antitrust laws.
Do free markets naturally tend toward monopoly, requiring antitrust to keep them honest? Tate Fegley makes the Austrian case that the whole framework is backwards. The neoclassical ideal of "perfect competition" defines away real competition—advertising, undercutting, innovating—and treats it as evidence of monopoly. Following Rothbard, Fegley argues the only coherent monopoly is one granted by the state, and works through the antitrust consequences, from Lina Khan's case against Amazon to the courts punishing Alcoa for serving customers too well. Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 21, 2026. Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
People in this episode
Guest: Tate Fegley
Topics covered
- monopoly
- antitrust
- free markets
- Austrian economics
- competition
- neoclassical economics
Keywords
- monopoly
- antitrust
- free markets
- Austrian economics
- competition
- Lina Khan
- Amazon
- Alcoa
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Mises Institute, Amazon, Alcoa
Places: Auburn, Alabama
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