Vindicating Standard Oil, 100 years later
May 15 is the 100th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s breakup of Standard Oil, history’s most notorious “monopoly.” In a new piece in The Daily Caller, I challenge the conventional story of Standard Oil—a story often used to disparage capitalism—and explain how Standard Oil earned its incredible success, thanks above all to the genius of John D. Rockefeller.
Here’s an excerpt from the piece.
In 1865, when Rockefeller’s market share was still minuscule, a gallon of kerosene cost 58 cents. In 1870, Standard’s market share was 4%, and a gallon cost 26 cents. By 1880, when Standard’s market share had skyrocketed to 90%, a gallon cost only 9 cents — and a decade later, with Standard’s market share still at 90%, the price was 7 cents. These data point to the real cause of Standard Oil’s success — its ability to charge the lowest prices by producing kerosene with unparalleled efficiency.
John D. Rockefeller had a rare business mind. He was at once a visionary, foreseeing a world in which his kerosene illuminated millions of homes, and an accountant obsessed with day-to-day penny-pinching.
Read the whole thing here. And for an in-depth examination of Standard Oil, monopolies, and antitrust law, read my essay “Vindicating Capitalism: The Real History of the Standard Oil Company.”
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Subscribe to VfR by email
VfR updates via Twitter
Entries (RSS)
Amazon Kindle edition
Facebook
