This book describes the failure of a 30 year old policy experiment with competition and markets and proposes a new experiment in social licensing of foundational activities. The repeated failure of that old experiment in subjecting the basics of everyday life to competition is conclusively demonstrated by detailed case studies of three sectors - broadband, food supply and retail banking - where private sector business models realise point value for corporations at the expense of underinvestment, damaged supply chains and gouged customers.
The radical move is then to change the frame and...