The state (sometimes) destroys the competition

From CroziervisionWiki

(Hmm, there ought to be a space up there. Drat)

What I am referring to here is not crowding out - the phenomenon where when the state offers something for free eg education the competition is undermined. What I am referring to is (what seems to me to be) the tendency of the state to willfully destroy competition especially when that competition has shown itself to be better than the state alternative.

Examples (not many for now, but from small acorns...):

• The R100 and the R101
• the police v the private security industry
• India banning private weather forecasts even though they were more accurate

Q&A

Why does the state do this? Probably because it doesn't like being shown up. Permalink