Anyway here, it's not about competition (that's what they want you to believe it is), it's about regulations (e.g. ensure some safety rules).
Can it? Are there any good examples of a market with a significant size (with enough profits to support multiple suppliers) devolving into a monopoly without any "help" from outside the market?
AT&T, has one should know, was a legal monopoly; hardly a free market participant.
But this is exactly what is happening here: Uber tries to get the legal privilege of being exempt from German regulations.
> What I asked is if there are examples of free markets turning into monopolies.
Cartelisation, anyone?
I don't see how; how are they preventing others from doing the same?
I'm not saying what they're doing is okay, but there's no privilege, anyone else (including incumbents) can decide to ignore the law and provide taxi services without the proper licenses.
Cartelization
Well, the you can surely provide an example of a cartel which has achieved monopoly without any help from States, just as the result of market failure.
There's a saying in Germany - Wo kein Kläger, da kein Richter (sort of a legal principle: Non ultra petita). Uber only could get away with breaking the law because no one complained. Someone now did. Case closed.
Well, the you can surely provide an example of a cartel which has achieved monopoly without any help from States, just as the result of market failure.
You really need references for that? It should be obvious. There are markets that lend themselves to big business. As soon as a few big players have cornered the market, it is in their best interest to play nice with each other so that 'everybody' wins (at the cost of their customers, of course). This creates a de-facto monopoly that might or might not be viable long-term (backstabbing probably will happen someday).
Historically, there's been a lot of that going on. The most recent case I remember were some German sugar manufacturers, but I could probably come up with hundreds of cases; it would be a waste of my time, though.
I'm not seeing how is this relevant.
You really need references for that? It should be obvious. There are markets (...)
Yes, yes, I know the theory. It's just that in practice, it doesn't seem to actually have facts behind it. At least when people give examples (e.g. Comcast) there's almost invariably an extra-market process pushing things.
The most recent case I remember were some German sugar manufacturers, but I could probably come up with hundreds of cases; it would be a waste of my time, though.
Yes, it probably would. Convincing me is not a very good use of anyone's time :)
You were arguing that anyone else can decide to ignore the law and provide taxi services without the proper licenses. This obviously only works if you avoid getting caught, but Uber did not exactly fly under the radar. What they had going for themselves was an unusual entrance to the market, but that only kept them safe until their competitors complained to the authorities.
Convincing me is not a very good use of anyone's time
I did not say that. But it's not hard to do this 'research' by looking at Wikipedia or Google. Some examples I dug up in the last 30 seconds:
Tchibo/Melitta/Dallmayr (coffee), Südzucker/Nordzucker/Pfeifer & Langen (sugar, the one I was talking about), Unilever/Procter & Gamble (washing powder), De Beers (diamonds), possibly your friendly neighbourhood drug dealer (hey, I can watch TV with the best of them ;)).
As long as you don't get caught, it's good business sense - at least for a time. And that's why it will happen, time and again - no extra-market processes necessary.
De Beers is also a good example - how can it be a free market participant when its biggest mines are joint ventures with the States of Namibia and Botswana?
I haven't looked at the other examples yet, but I find these frankly unconvincing.