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Freakonomics Radio
America’s Hidden Duopoly
We all know our political system is “broken” — but what if that’s not true? Some say the Republicans and Democrats constitute a wildly successful industry that has colluded to kill off competition, stifle reform, and drive the country apart. So, what are you going to do about it?
A few weeks ago, Michigan congressman Justin Amash announced that he was leaving the Republican Party to become an independent. Amash said the partisan rancor in Washington, D.C., was just too much and counterproductive; he also said he has long had concerns about the country’s two-party system.
For decades, we’ve been hearing from both sides of the aisle that Washington is “broken.” But what if the Washington-is-broken idea is just a line? Maybe even a slogan that the country’s two dominant political parties approved? What if they’re just selling and we’re buying? What if it’s not broken at all? What if, instead, it’s doing exactly what it’s designed to do?
This week on Freakonomics Radio, we brought back an episode that we first put out last fall, just before Election Day. The episode is called “America’s Hidden Duopoly.” It explores whether Washington, D.C., is an industry just like any other, one in which two powerful players have colluded to drive the country apart.
Imagine a gigantic industry that’s being dominated by just one or two companies. Actually, you don’t have to imagine. Google has more than 90% of the global search engine market. So, not quite a monopoly, but pretty close. Such cases are rare; but not so rare is the duopoly — when two firms dominate an industry. Like Intel and AMD in computer processors. Boeing and Airbus in jet airliners. The Sharks and the Jets in the fictional-gangs-from-the-’50s industry.
There are plenty of reasons why duopolies exist, and they’re not necessarily all sinister. In capitalism, scale is really important: There are all sorts of advantages to being big, which lead big companies to get even bigger, gobbling up smaller companies and essentially dictating the rules of their market. (You can afford to make big…
