Essay:Monopoly and the Free Market

From RationalWiki
Jump to: navigation, search
Essay.svg This essay is an original work by Colonel Sanders.
It does not necessarily reflect the views expressed in RationalWiki's Mission Statement, but we welcome discussion of a broad range of ideas.
Unless otherwise stated, this is original content, released under CC-BY-SA 3.0 or any later version. See RationalWiki:Copyrights.
Feel free to make comments on the talk page, which will probably be far more interesting, and might reflect a broader range of RationalWiki editors' thoughts.

I know this may be a bit silly, but I decided to write a short blurb of analysis on the board game Monopoly and comparing it to the American free market. For those who may not be familiar, Monopoly is a board game created in 1935 by Charles Darrow in which the player must bankrupt all opponents by buying up properties and building upon them houses and hotels. America, before economic regulations, had quite a few monopolies. Acts like the Sherman Antitrust Act cracked down on monopolies, and they rarely exist in the American free market. But, why is a game involving the buying up of properties of a group and forcing rent of bankruptcy the most popular board game in the world? I have several guesses on this. Perhaps many like the feel of crushing their opponents and feel doing so in an economic way with use of a board game.[1] Or is it a feeling of nostalgia? Perhaps. I personally believe Monopoly to be a satire of the evils of corporate greed.

  1. It is of an interesting note that Darrow who originally designed the game to amuse himself as an unemployed man during the Great Depression
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Community
Tools
support