Well said. Artificial Scarcity is a HUGE problem in uncompetitive markets, but apparels is certainly NOT a monopolistic market. If people are willing to pay Burberry $1000 for a $6 coat, what’s the problem?
Similarly — Housing, Tuition & Healthcare have all increased in pricing for various reasons — mostly government intervention and regulatory capture. Aside from zoning laws (which we can and do debate as a society, arguably unfairly), there is almost zero artificial scarcity.
The author brings up an interesting point with Pharmaceuticals, though. A large portion of the problem is certainly regulator capture and the general mess that is the US Healthcare system.
That being said, pharmaceuticals are often times NOT competitive markets: see the Martin Shkreli EpiPen fiasco. I’m not sure if anyone has a convincing, scalable, long-term solution to this problem, though.
But I would love to be pointed to it if a solution exists [=
