I don't see why gold production is a "natural monopoly", and I don't think
it has been historically. (Under the Spanish in America, the gold was
produced by small competing producers, not by the state. In the 19th
century, the Californian, Alaskan and Australian gold finds were organized
in a highly competitive way.
Cheers,
Duncan
>In a couple of posts in this thread, I have seen references to
>the "price of production" of gold. Given that gold is the
>money commodity, referring to its "price" is a bit problematic.
>More important, however, is the implication that the product
>of any production process could be the money commodity. Isn't
>gold production a "natural monopoly"? Do not the firms producing
>the money commodity have to be natural monopolies? Or, could any
>commodity be the money commodity?
>
>
>John
Duncan K. Foley
Department of Economics
Barnard College
New York, NY 10027
(212)-854-3790
fax: (212)-854-8947
e-mail: dkf2@columbia.edu