Some public policies intentionally engineer industries so they remain fragmented and non‑runnable by large players: licensing, standardized equipment rules, and caps on capital intensity can preserve many modest owner‑operators and prevent winner‑take‑all dynamics. This is a distinct policy choice rather than a market failure to be 'fixed' by more competition.
— Recognizing 'design for fragmentation' reframes debates over deregulation, antitrust, and industrial policy by putting distributional and social‑stability goals on equal footing with efficiency.
Matthew Yglesias
2026.03.02
100% relevant
Matthew Yglesias’s piece cites Maine lobster rules — licenses, trap standardization, and trap/location limits — as an example where policy prevents expansion and concentrates wealth from emerging.
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