here are certain instances in which monopoly (and monopoly prices) arise in the unhampered market. He specifically mentions natural resource monopoly,12 geographic monopoly,13 limited-space monopoly,14 and monopoly that might arise because consumers place a "special confidence…on the individual or firm concerned on account of previous experience,"15 as with certain trademarked drugs.
KJRZNER'S MONOPOLY THEORY
Professor Kirzner's theory of monopoly can be derived logically from his well-articulated theory of the competitive process.16 Kirzner views the market process as one in which market sellers are continually attempting to inch ahead of rivals by offering more attractive opportunities to potential buyers. And he views this process as inherently competitive since the key ingredient that makes the process function—entrepreneurship—can never be monopolized. For Kirzner, pure entrepreneurship requires no resources whatsoever; hence the freedom to enter the market is absolute since no obstacles to entry can ever exist in a free market.
However, the exercise of entrepreneurship is quite another matter. Here the exclusive ownership or control of "all the current endowment of a certain resource" is defined by Kirzner to be monopoly, can indeed block entry into the production of some specific good, and can hamper competition and "impede the course of the market process." A monopoly producer for Kirzner is one whose "exclusive input blocks competitive entry into the production of his products."17 To employ Kirzner's example, without access to oranges, "production of orange juice is blocked."18
Kirzner notes that monopoly should not refer to a producer who—in the absence of resource monopoly—is the single supplier of some product in the market. That firm, he reasons, is still fully subject to the market process since entry into competitive production is always possible. On the other hand, when "needed resources" are restricted because of monopoly ownership or control of a certain resource, the very possibility of competition—and the benefits to consumers that are the consequences of competition—are eliminated.19 Here, according to Kirzner, the monopolist is completely "immune from the competition of other entrepreneurs who might, in other circumstances, enter his field of activity."20
Kirzner is quick to note, however, that the monopolist is not immune from the competitive process itself. Although entry into some specific activity is by definition blockaded, entry into similar activities is not. Monopoly control over a resource simply diverts the competitive, entrepreneurial process into other similar activities, employing other resources which create a "turbulence" that surrounds and impinges upon the monopolist's, original activity.
Importantly, Kirzner hints that the equilibrium tendency of a market containing resource monopoly is to produce a higher than "competitive-equilibrium price" for the resources and also a higher "surplus" for the product produced with that resource. This surplus can be accomplished by withdrawing some of the stock from the market and "forcing" up the market price.21 Thus, consumers might be harmed by such activity since scarce monopolized resources are not being employed to the "fullest extent compatible with the pattern of consumer tastes in the market."22
ROTHBARD'S MONOPOLY THEORY
Professor Rothbard's analysis of monopoly, monopoly price, and the welfare implications of such economic conditions differs radically from that of both Mises and Kirzner. Indeed, in his discussion of monopoly, Rothbard is sharply critical not only of the neoclassical monopoly theories, but also implicitly critical (and occasionally explicitly critical) of views held by his fellow Austrian theorists as well.23
As far as Rothbard is concerned, there are three possible definitions of monopoly: one, the single seller of any given good; two, a grant of special privilege by the state, reserving a certain area of production to one particular individual or group; and three, "a person who has achieved a monopoly price."24
Althou