Doug Henwood wrote:
> Before there were national markets, buyers often faced
> local monopolies. In a small market, there can't be much
> specialization, either. So local production can reduce
> choice and contribute to higher prices. This is even true
> on a national scale. Before Japanese cars hit the U.S.
> market, the Big Three were producing crappy cars.
Seems to me that the local scale means the high costs of production for many modern goodies are spread over a smaller market. So rather than spreading the costs of a handful of plants over a massive market, you duplicate many of those costs unnecessarily (even at smaller capacities) and spread them over markets so small they may not even be able to sustain the process.
-- Shane
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