Of course there are competing bridges and roads. And there were a lot more of them when competition was allowed. For a recent case see here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/09/ambassador-bridge-spat/2065601/
Besides, roads and bridge builders aren't considred natural monopolies even by most statist economist since it's obvious that there is not an economy of scale that is a barrier to entry. All your need to do is purchase land next to an existing road or bridge. And even if there isn't land available you can build a elevated road on top of an existing one or a tunnel under one.
Public lands are a monopoly of the govenment kind, govenment enforced monopolies are the only kind that actually limit competition. In a free market if someone builds a road or bridge that generatees a large profit competing roads and bridges will be built right next to them. There might be cases were the profits are too small to justify another road or another broadband cable, but just the threat of potential competition will keep prices in check.
If natural monopolies actually do exit then there would be no reason to have laws and regulations to enforce them. Of course this is not the case, govenment franchises were created to keep away competition from politically connected enterprises and to allow them to gouge their customers.
There are certainly cases where propery will have private roads and also public access roads. However in general roads will be held in common by the property owners in a block or subdivision. However they might have competing road management companies to maintain the roads. Of course if there is no demand for competing companies, and the landowners have an informal arrangement among themselves this whole point in moot.In any case historically monopoly road ownership has never been a problem.
It's hard to have a rational discussion on the topic when almost everyone believes that in a free market there is something called a natural monopoly. This is a myth. No such thing existed until competition was limited by govenment regulation. Until goverment regulation there were multiple electric, gas, and telephone companies in every city. As an example there were 45 electric light companies in Chicago in 1907. See http://mises.org/daily/5266/ more examples.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Natural Monopoly is a myth.
Of course there are competing bridges and roads. And there were a lot more of them when competition was allowed. For a recent case see here:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/09/ambassador-bridge-spat/2065601/
Besides, roads and bridge builders aren't considred natural monopolies even by most statist economist since it's obvious that there is not an economy of scale that is a barrier to entry. All your need to do is purchase land next to an existing road or bridge. And even if there isn't land available you can build a elevated road on top of an existing one or a tunnel under one.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Natural Monopoly is a myth.
Public lands are a monopoly of the govenment kind, govenment enforced monopolies are the only kind that actually limit competition. In a free market if someone builds a road or bridge that generatees a large profit competing roads and bridges will be built right next to them. There might be cases were the profits are too small to justify another road or another broadband cable, but just the threat of potential competition will keep prices in check.
If natural monopolies actually do exit then there would be no reason to have laws and regulations to enforce them. Of course this is not the case, govenment franchises were created to keep away competition from politically connected enterprises and to allow them to gouge their customers.
Re: Re: Natural Monopoly is a myth.
There are certainly cases where propery will have private roads and also public access roads. However in general roads will be held in common by the property owners in a block or subdivision. However they might have competing road management companies to maintain the roads. Of course if there is no demand for competing companies, and the landowners have an informal arrangement among themselves this whole point in moot.In any case historically monopoly road ownership has never been a problem.
Natural Monopoly is a myth.
It's hard to have a rational discussion on the topic when almost everyone believes that in a free market there is something called a natural monopoly. This is a myth. No such thing existed until competition was limited by govenment regulation. Until goverment regulation there were multiple electric, gas, and telephone companies in every city. As an example there were 45 electric light companies in Chicago in 1907. See http://mises.org/daily/5266/ more examples.