Monopolies Are the Environment's Best Friend

ByBilly J Best

Public goods and monopolies are both vital concepts and have an important relationship inside the environmental economics' landscape. Consumers can actually benefit from monopolies, economically speaking, and in the long run, monopolies help keep our ecology more pristine by not allowing more than one firm in a specific market to perform environmentally sensitive construction within an environmentally sensitive area. There is no debate that many times public goods can be supplied by monopolies more efficiently than in competitive markets.

Monopolies are managed and mitigated, many times, to actually benefit society. For instance, natural monopolies can actually perform better in a specific market rather than having two or more competitive firms trying to meet consumer demands. Economists have shown that allowing a single business entity to control the operations of specific utilities takes away the wastefulness of duplicating costly infrastructure improvements and other capital investments. Obviously, most competitive markets help keep costs down for consumers and increase innovation for industries, but this is not always the case for those that supply utility services. For instance, it may not be worthwhile to have two competing companies constructing gas lines or electrical lines within the same market. Companies that duplicate capital ventures that require digging and placing gas lines and then make these companies buy easements from governmental agencies/private citizens simply for placing power poles is often cost ineffective in terms of keeping prices low within a market. The end result would be higher energy prices for consumers in that local market.

Think about it, The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and other transportation agencies across America delineate environmental wetlands before any roadway is to be rehabilitated or newly constructed. The Right of Way limits for these roadways harbor utilities like underground gas lines, sewage, telephone, and overhead electrical lines. Power poles for these electrical lines must be located far enough away from the edge of the travel lanes to ensure vehicles can navigate roads safely. Due to an environmental wetland being too close to a roadway, FDOT may deem it necessary for only a single market supplier to be established within its Right of Way. This means that transportation agencies like FDOT are actually promoting natural monopolies. Therefore, all of this illustrates how government and governmental agencies can manage how and when monopolies are to occur. Besides these natural monopolies, other forms of monopoly, the harmful monopolies, are regulated by our Antitrust laws to ensure that unfair business practices of price setting does not arise.

News in Local and World Environmental Economics.

Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Billy_J_Best

Did you find this article helpful?00Get Involved0 commentsSuggest a topicArticle ToolsPrint this articleE-mail to a friendEzinePublisherReport this articleCite this articleStay InformedGet notified by email when new articles are added to this category or written by this author.Subscribe to New Article Alerts:

News and Society: Economics
Billy J Best

Email Address:SubscribeEconomics Article FeedFind More ArticlesSearchRecent ArticlesHow To Solve The Homeless SituationProgressivism Isn't Progress, VIIIHow Secure Is Your "Secure" Job?A True Comparison Of Increasing Debt Between Bush And Obama AdministrationsHow To Compete With ChinaWould Einstein Think Us Insane?What Will Happen If Greece Defaults?A Cluster of (Minor) ErrorsThe US Recovery Is Producing SurprisesA Sigh Of Relief For The Economic Status Of The USSubmitted On December 13, 2011. Viewed 8 times. Word count: 414.

MLA Style Citation:
Best, Billy J.".".13 Dec. 2011EzineArticles.com.26 Jan. 2012 .APA Style Citation:
Best, B. J. (2011, December 13). . Retrieved January 26, 2012, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Monopolies-­Are-­the-­Environments-­Best-­Friend&id=6755278Chicago Style Citation:
Best, Billy J. "." EzineArticles.com. http://ezinearticles.com/?Monopolies-­Are-­the-­Environments-­Best-­Friend&id=6755278EzineArticles.com© 2012 EzineArticles.com
All Rights Reserved Worldwide

About UsFAQContact UsMember BenefitsPrivacy PolicyShopSite MapBlogTrainingVideo ArchiveAdvertisingAffiliatesCartoonsAuthorsSubmit ArticlesMembers LoginPremium MembershipExpert AuthorsEndorsementsEditorial GuidelinesTerms of ServicePublishersFollow UsTerms Of ServiceEzines / Email AlertsManage SubscriptionsEzineArticles RSS

View the Original article