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Monopoly exists insofar as the freedom of competition is violated, with the freedom of competition being understood as the absence of the initiation of physical force as the preventive of competition. Where there is no initiation of physical force to violate the freedom of competition, there is no monopoly. The freedom of competition is violated only insofar as individuals are excluded from markets or parts of markets by means of the initiation of physical force. Monopoly is thus a market or part of a market reserved to the exclusive possession of one or more sellers by means of the initiation of physical force. It is thus something imposed upon the market from without - by the government. Thus, monopoly is not something which emerges from the normal operation of the economic system, and which the government must control. That mistaken view is based on the economic concept of monopoly, which will be considered later in this chapter. The economic concept of monopoly is the corollary of the anarchic concept of freedom and its implication that private individuals can violate the freedom of speech or press by their mere refusal to provide others with the material means for spreading their ideas and can violate the freedom of competition by virtue merely of their possession of larger capitals and superior abilities. Rationally understood, monopoly is external to the normal operation of the economic system and is, as I say, imposed by the government or with the government's sanction. It is, as it was originally understood, an exclusive grant of government privilege, such as was extended by English monarchs in earlier centuries to the British East India Company and to various guilds of producers or merchants. As subsequent discussion will show, the leading examples of monopoly rationally understood, that is, according to the political concept of monopoly, are exclusive government franchises, licensing laws, tariffs, the operation of minimum-wage and prounion legislation, government-owned or government-subsidized enterprises, a socialist society, and, however surprising, the antitrust laws.
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