Meatpacking industry is not the cause of higher meat prices. It’s government policy.

Just because there are four large firms that control the market, it does not mean that they can push prices up at will.

Contrary to President Biden’s comments that the meatpacking industry is causing inflation in the price of meat, exactly the opposite is true. Biden claims that the four largest firms in that industry are pushing prices up because of the lack of competition. There is however a difference between a lack of competition in a market and mature industry.

It is true that four companies, Tyson JBS, Marfrig, and Seaboard, control about 85% of the market. With this amount of market control, these four firms have virtually minimized competition. As a result, while food prices rose 6.4% in 2021, the price of meat, poultry, and fish have increased 12.8%, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

“Capitalism without competition isn’t Capitalism. It’s exploitation.” Biden recently said.

Is Biden, right? Are four large companies enough for competition?

This is the same argument used in any oligopolistic market. Economists usually say that a market is an oligopoly, as opposed to purely competitive, when the top four companies control at least 70% of the market. By that definition, the…