… is from page 197 of the late Robert Tollison’s 1978 paper “Is Industrial Concentration the Cause of Inflation?” which is chapter 38 in The Attack on Corporate America (M. Bruce Johnson, ed., 1978):
In sum, there is neither a logical nor factual argument for the claim that corporate market power causes inflation in the United States.
DBx: Yes. And since Bob wrote these words nothing on this front has changed.
Now as then, blaming inflation on monopoly power, or on corporate greed, is the intellectual equivalent of blaming the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Americans’ tolerance of homosexuality and transgender rights: It’s motivated, ignorant, lazy, unfounded, and plain ol’ stupid.
…..
Pictured above is Bob Tollison (1942-2016), who was my colleague at George Mason during my first stint on this august faculty from 1985 through 1989. I learned much from him.
