Launched as a ten-year initiative in 2003, Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC) symbolizes a philanthropic experiment in using information, money, strategy, and partnerships to effect change in the support system for performers in the United States. LINC’s objective was to enhance the ability of performers to produce work, build interpersonal capital, and contribute to democratic values. 18 million to support innovative programs, groundbreaking research, catalytic partnerships, knowledge-sharing, and other work in pursuit of that objective.
Without these conditions, this topic quickly changes from discussing the costs and benefits of free markets, to quibbling over how an imaginary condition of the world may become more right or less right. Put another way, when market participants; buyers, retailers, employers, and employees, have equivalent negotiating power, marketplaces will self-correct and fair value will be the prevailing price.
This is, in which a second and incredibly important benefit will come in. With competition also comes self-policing mechanisms. For instance, if there have been two competing dry cleaners and one of the cleaners was sloppy in losing their chemicals, consumers could factor that into who they work with. When market participants are on a level playing field, both relative sides can affect the other.
When both sides can affect the other, unethical behaviors either self-correct or are forced out of the market. This self-policing mechanism can only occur in competitive markets. So, what kind of markets do we’ve? Consider the assumptions above. Consider, just how do these assumptions increase competition and create a known level playing field? How would their absence eliminate competition and a fair fight?
- Georg Kell, Executive Head, US Global Compact
- Mystery shopper ($15.00 per hour + expenditures)
- Select Enabled next to SSH
- 25% SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD)
- 1954 – 387
- How you make people feel
Do you think we’ve competitive markets? Is there a complete great deal of companies to choose from? Let’s say you are a banker and there is only one large bank in your town. You can’t exactly shop your job application around. You’re stuck with the only company and have to take whatever salary they offer.
Looking at the desk below, you’d believe the sheer quantity of bank or investment company branches and offices (blue and green lines) would also show plenty of job opportunities. Well, kind of. There are many jobs. However they are all with the same few big banks (red range). Can prices/wages be established or negotiated away from fair value? Real estate is a great example of this. A lot of the right time, the number of purchasers and retailers are fairly equal and therefore most real estate offers reflect reasonable value. But when there is a shock, like the 2007 housing bubble, all of the sudden sellers are vulnerable. Buyers have a lot of properties to choose from and can determine prices.
I personally like the nomenclature “fire sale.” While disastrous for the seller, this is a natural price fluctuation triggered by the bubble popping. Can an oligopoly control rents regardless of the real property market’s heath? Many people don’t realize just how focused commercial real estate is. Nationally, the number of public company real estate investment trusts (REIT) is surprisingly small.
Industrial real estate is dominated by eight companies. Office property only has nine major players. If we take a look at commercial and office local rental data, the housing bubble obviously had no impact on rental rates. This is a stark departure from what residential property owners experienced. Oligopolies can also have controlled rents, immune from natural market forces.
Do buyers, retailers, employers, and employees have similar and full information? When you’re negotiating salary for a new job, the hiring company knows your desired salary and salary history. You on the other hand, don’t know the salary of the previous employee or how many other people in that department earn. You also don’t know just how many other candidates you are competing against. It’s a one sided negotiation. In a perfect world, all market participants would be price/wage negotiators. The truth is, our marketplaces have a little amount of price/wage setters leaving ordinary people to be price/wage takers.