In the House of Lords last night, Lord Jenkin condemned the energy "oligopoly" and tabled an amendment calling for greater competition.
They believe they have a fundamental right to enjoy the fruits of oligopoly: control of airwaves that are actually (or at least supposedly) owned by the public.
Just as with S&P and Moodys, they form a small but powerful "oligopoly" – what was once the Big Eight shrank to the Big Five and, after the Andersen debacle at Enron, to the Big Four.
This meshes with the volumes of loans that are traded over the cycle with banking activity highest when rates are low.However, this theory only holds for an oligopoly which can avoid being undercut by competitors when prices are high.
Even American contenders, such as J.P. Morgan Chase, have found it hard to break into Wall Street's top half-dozen firms, the bulge bracket.How do you penetrate an oligopoly?
But better no ratings at all, perhaps, than those of a discredited oligopoly supported by a short-sighted central bank.
THE death of Sir Freddie Laker last week reminded the world's air travellers of the high cost of flying before he took on, and helped to break, the transatlantic oligopoly enjoyed by the big airlines.
In retrospect, however, it was precisely the creation of this oligopoly that led to a disaster.
This cuts the efficiency of doctors and lowers their morale, as their authority is undercut and their patients sulk because they are not allowed expensive treatments.Lately, however, groups of hospitals and doctors have banded together in search of oligopoly power of their own, linking so many providers under one banner that no plan can afford to pass it by.
The industry remains a duopoly or, at best, an oligopoly in important new areas such as structured finance (ie, repackaged pools of assets).One result is that there is little price competition between agencies.
Wall Street's sensitivity to charges that it operates as an underwriting oligopoly dates back at least to the Glass-Steagall act of 1933 when commercial banks were forced to sell or close their underwriting business, in effect reinforcing the franchises of "bulge-bracket" securities firms.
