The breakup of Standard Oil

Reply

Wheylous Posted: Mon, Mar 19 2012 10:41 AM

rated by 0 users

We all know of Standard Oil's success in receiving a large market share during the Gilded Age. I have made the case that Standard Oil was not the evil monopoly of people's nightmares (http://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Standard_Oil). I have also learned that Rockefeller actually made a killing after the breakup, when most shares doubled in price (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil).

I am of the opinion that a large part of the success of Standard Oil was due to its market practices. Of course, there were also tariffs and patent monopolies which undoubtedly helped him, yet in the beginning Rockefeller was (it appears) a man of the market.

Later, however, with the involvement with the Fed, he turned from the market and to government.

In light of this change, could there be a different interpretation for the breaking up of SO? Could it have been orchestrated by Rockefeller himself, possibly knowing his shares would by some mechanism double in price?

Of course, this is just a mere idea, but I'd like input on this. I'd also love if I could find correspondences with other people, but I have no clue on how to dig up original historical documents which have not yet been analyzed.

I have not yet finished my reading for Standard Oil (both McGee and Hidy's important works on the subject), so maybe I will find more evidence there.