‘Monopolies seem naturally emergent in the absence of regulation.’ Wrong way round - monopolies only exist because of regulation. Regulation is always protectionist of businesses and producers. Any enterprise which produces a good valued by consumers and can produce it at a price the market will bear, and make a profit and do it better than competitors will have a dominant position. It can only become a monopoly if no other entity can produce the good and sell it for the same or lower price and make a profit. It means the consumer us getting the best deal. In a free market this is a contestable monopoly, because there is nothing external to prevent another market entrant from competing with a lower price if it can. Also the monopoly can and often is lost due to innovation. However. If regulation makes cost of production very high, it reduces or eliminates competition and prevents new market entrants. Strict regulation about ‘how’ something must be made, or what can be made, removes possibility for innovation. Regulations are written by key market players in cahoots with Government, specifically to keep competition out, particularly foreign competition - that’s what tariffs and non-tariffs are for too. In the US, poultry after slaughter goes through a chlorine wash process to kill any bugs on the skin, particularly salmonella, in Europe they have a different regularity procedure which is supposed to prevent flocks being infected with salmonella, and just few seconds immersion in near boiling water after slaughter. US poultry is banned in the EU because... regulations. Also residual chlorine on US chucks, contravene regulations. Yet I hear no reports of piles of corpses outside KFC in the US. So the EU poultry producers have a Government created monopoly... deliberately. Anywhere you see a monopoly, you will find Government created it.