A review by miguelf
The Great Reversal: How America Gave Up on Free Markets by Thomas Philippon
5.0
If you watch US business shows a common trope is to tout the dominance of US businesses over their other global competitors. However, as The Great Reversal shows conditions in the US from a competitive standpoint have actually gotten much worse and now lag behind their peers in spite of the dominance of highly touted behemoths that are part of the FAANGs. This doesn’t seem to be all that bad from the standpoint of Joe Sixpack, but the reality is that it has actually impacted prices and costs for the average consumer as Philippon convincingly shows and poor Joe in the US pays more for a basket of goods than his counterparts do in “old” weak Europe. Weak anti-competitive legislation in the US has exacerbated this issue mainly to the detriment of consumers. The simple premise of the book is started with why cell phone plans are so much cheaper in Europe as opposed to the US and it braches out from there.
From a personal standpoint there are a whole basket of goods and services which are less expensive here at Germany than at home in the US and yet where does this additional expense that the US consumer pay go to? It is these kinds of fundamental questions and explanation that make The Great Reversal such an interesting and vital book as he reveals why monopsony has exerted such a negative effect on the Economy as a whole.
From a personal standpoint there are a whole basket of goods and services which are less expensive here at Germany than at home in the US and yet where does this additional expense that the US consumer pay go to? It is these kinds of fundamental questions and explanation that make The Great Reversal such an interesting and vital book as he reveals why monopsony has exerted such a negative effect on the Economy as a whole.