My concerns on this score stem from the dramatic advances in information technology that we see all around us. In markets with significant economies of scale and scope, like those for standardized financial instruments, there is a tendency toward consolidation or even natural monopoly.
Throughout much of our history this tendency has been restrained by an inability to communicate information sufficiently quickly, cheaply, and accurately. In recent years, however, this constraint is being essentially eliminated by advances in telecommunications. We have not yet seen clear evidence of a trend toward natural monopoly.