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In economics and business ethics, a coercive monopoly is a business concern that is operating in an environment where competitors are being prevented from entering the field, such that the firm is able to raise prices, and make production decisions, without risk of competition arising to draw away their customers.〔Greenspan, Alan, (''Antitrust'' ), in ''Capitalism:The Unknown Ideal'' by Ayn Rand. Also (''The Question of Monopolies'' ) by Nathaniel Branden defines and discusses coercive monopoly.〕 A coercive monopoly is not merely a sole supplier of a particular kind of good or service (a monopoly), but it is a monopoly where there is no opportunity to compete through means such as price competition, technological or product innovation, or marketing; entry into the field is closed. As a coercive monopoly is securely shielded from possibility of competition, it is able to make pricing and production decisions with the assurance that no competition will arise. It is a case of a non-contestable market. A coercive monopoly has very few incentives to keep prices low and may deliberately price gouge consumers by curtailing production.〔Kudlow, Lawrence, (''The Judicial Hacker'' ), in ''Jewish World Review'' (June 14, 2000)〕 Also, according to economist Murray Rothbard, "a coercive monopolist will tend to perform his service badly and inefficiently."〔Rothbard, Murray, (''The State Versus Liberty'' ) in ''The Ethics of Liberty'' by Rothbard (1982)〕 Whether coercive monopolies can arise in free market, or whether they require government intervention to institute them is a point of some disagreement. Advocates of free markets argue that the only feasible way that a business could close entry to a field and therefore be able to raise prices free of competitive forces, i.e. be a coercive monopoly, is with the aid of government in restricting competition. It is argued that without government preventing competition, the firm must keep prices low because if they sustain unreasonably high prices, they will attract others to enter the field to compete. In other words, if the monopoly is not protected from competition by government intervention, it still faces potential competition, so that there is an incentive to keep prices low and a disincentive to price gouge (i.e., competitive pressures still exist in a non-coercive monopoly situation). Others, such as some business ethicists, believe that a free market can produce coercive monopolies.〔Hasnas, John. (''The normative theories of business ethics: a guide for the perplexed ).'' in '' Business Ethics Quarterly'' v. 8 (Jan. 1998) p. 19-42 ISSN 1052-150X Number: BSSI98006753〕 ==Contrasted with other monopolies== Exclusive control of electricity supply due to government imposed "utility" status is a coercive monopoly, because users have no choice but to pay the price that the monopolist demands. Consumers would not have an alternative to purchase electricity from a cheaper competitor, because the wires running into their homes belong to the monopolist. Exclusive control of Coca-Cola would ''not'' be a coercive monopoly because consumers have a choice to drink another brand of soda, and the Coca-Cola company is subject to competitive forces. There is an upper limit to which the company can raise its prices before profits begin to erode because of the presence of viable substitute goods. Contrastingly, for a ''non-coercive monopoly'' to be maintained, the monopolist must make pricing and production decisions knowing that if prices are too high or quality is too low competition may arise from another firm that can better serve the market. If it is successful, it is called an ''efficiency monopoly'', because it has been able to keep production and supply costs lower than any other possible competitor so that it can charge a lower price than others and still be profitable. Since potential competitors are not able to be so efficient at producing, they are not able to charge a lower, or comparable, price and still be profitable. Hence, competing is ''possible'' but doing so is not profitable; whereas, for a coercive monopoly, competition is neither profitable nor possible. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Coercive monopoly」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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