Monopoly isn't as Capitalist as Some Think

What's Wrong with Monopoly (the game)?

In the game Monopoly, owners of land and houses and hotels, though acquiring their possessions by luck, are flattered into believing they are masters of the universe, extracting profits from anyone who passes their way. There is no consumer choice and no consumer sovereignty. This is not a small detail. The entire raison d'etre of the market is missing, and thus the real goal and the guide of all production in a market economy.

Consumer choice is replaced by a roll of the dice. The player then becomes passive. Landing on property owned by another person creates not a mutual gain but a loss. In this way, trade is portrayed as "zero-sum." The elimination of consumer choice leads to the belief that businesses profit only at the consumers' expense.

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In Monopoly, a roll of the dice forces exchanges between producers and others. However, business to business transactions are left to free negotiation. Players are allowed to offer property for trade or cash to other players on mutually agreeable terms. Even in these transactions, regulation raises its ugly head when there are buildings on the property. Players are forced to demolish buildings before making any property exchanges.

The pervasiveness of monopolies in the game does not represent the situation in the real world. Every piece of property on the game board is essentially a monopoly; once the dice roll determines where a player lands, there is only one seller who the consumer must purchase from. The monopolies are easily obtained by purchasing land from the bank or another player. In the real world, however, consumers are rarely compelled to purchase goods from a seller?or if one seller exists it is because it has out-competed others over time. Even with one seller, consumers can always switch to substitutes or abstain from purchasing completely. That is not the case in Monopoly. Again, this is not a small matter. The game is wrong on the central point of economic decision making: who is in control of what is produced and how?

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The game comes complete with a single central bank, rules restricting lending competition, and the ability to inflate the currency. The rules eliminate lending competition by stating "Money can only be loaned to a player by the bank and then only by mortgaging property. No player may borrow from or lend money to another player."

In addition all mortgages are price controlled to a 10 percent interest rate. As for inflation, the rules clearly state that the central bank "never goes bankrupt. To continue playing, use slips of paper to keep track of each player's banking transactions?until the bank has enough paper money to operate again"(emphasis in original).

Benjamin Powell and David Skarbek also discuss the game's mixed takes on coercive taxation and statism. On one hand, the presence of state involvement doesn't represent a free market system. On the other, the direct negative impact on the players that the state interference represents is obvious and irritating to all players...in one sense making the case for the removal of those rules.

Overall, a very nice evisceration of any ideas that the game accurately portrays capitalist conditions.

Posted by Drizzten at February 13, 2004 12:49 PM