Monopolies cost Americans $300 a month. We're no longer the land of free markets | Thomas Philippon

In a reversal from a few decades ago, American consumers are facing oligopolies while Europeans benefit from competition

When I landed in Boston in 1999, the United States was the land of free markets. Many goods and services were cheaper here than in Europe. Twenty years later, American free markets are becoming a myth. Internet service, cellphone plans, and plane tickets are now cheaper in Europe and Asia than in the US. In 2018, the average monthly cost of a broadband internet connection was $31 in France, $39 in the UK and $68 in the US. American households also spend twice as much on cellphone services as households in France or the UK.

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Thomas Philippon is the Max L Heine Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University. He was named one of the top 25 economists under 45 by the IMF and won the Bernicer Prize for Best European Economist. He is the author of the new book The Great Reversal: How America Gave Up on Free Markets