Special cases of domestic monopolies
An independent specific case is the bilateral monopoly of the Ministry of Railways (to a certain extent, the Ministry of Maritime Transport, Aeroflot, and the Ministry of Defense are also in a similar position). On the one hand, since the IPU acts as the sole or main consumer of a certain type of product in relation to individual counterparties, it is a monopolistic consumer. The monopolistic position of the consumer often leads to his disinterest in improving the quality of consumed products, in improving their designs, in replacing materials with more progressive ones. This slows down the process of increasing production efficiency at the manufacturing plant.
On the other hand, the IPU also acts as a monopolistic producer in the field of services provided by it. Thus, the Ministry of Internal Affairs actually determines the volume of one-time deliveries of a number of products through the establishment of transit standards. Therefore, consumer enterprises are forced to receive ordered products (or order them) in a multiple of the transit rate. It should also be added that the IPU's monopoly position and its charter make it possible not to compensate for damage caused to enterprises through the fault of this ministry. It should be noted that the primary, most significant negative impact on the situation in the transport sector is exerted by the second type of monopoly. If the Ministry of Transport did not have a monopoly on this type of transport services, its impact within the framework of the consumer's monopoly would not have such serious consequences.
The creation of artificial shortages for a number of types of goods should also be attributed to the consequences of the monopoly position of individual ministries. This aspect is most clearly seen in the activities of the Ministry of Commerce. Despite the real effective demand, there is a deliberate underestimation of demand and, accordingly, orders to manufacturers of goods, the volume of sales of which does not allow trade organizations to form the desired funds, as well as products that are difficult to process, pack, etc. and therefore undesirable. There are well—known examples when it was the activities of the Ministry of Commerce that provoked private commodity shortages - bed linen, tobacco products, etc.
The problem of monopolization of the sphere of circulation is extremely relevant. The competition of manufacturers is carried out mainly in the wholesale trade, and during the transition to retail, the presence or absence of competition between retail organizations becomes particularly important. In our country, the monopoly in the sphere of production is organically complemented and thereby aggravated by the monopoly in the sphere of circulation: the Ministry of Commerce in the field of the consumer market and the State Treasury in the field of the market of means of production.
The focus on the growth of cost and volume indicators to the detriment of the formation of a wide range of goods, including cheap ones, has a particularly painful effect on the consumer market. Here, centralized influence is primarily aimed at increasing the volume of supplies at retail prices and, consequently, increasing turnover. Best Online Casinos Ireland