I first encountered this idea in reading 'An American Sickness' (A book on the American healthcare system circa 2015.) In markets with captive buyers, prices will rise exorbitantly, becoming entirely uncoupled from costs. This isn't solved with price transparency, because buyers are compelled to purchase the good. Examples: - Textbooks (Students are theoretically required to buy the books.) - Healthcare (Most of the time, the service is rendered without much consumer choice) Non examples that feel similar: - The cost of higher education in the USA. (This is sort of different because there is aggressive price targeting, the financial aid apparatus allows Ivy league schools to charge ~$80k / year to the wealthy and roughly nothing to the poor. At lower tier universities the dynamics are different, with less financial aid and a greater dependence on government backed student loas, I'm not that knowledgeable about those specifics.) #economics