"Thus, a full breakup of the vertical integration model wouldn’t necessarily end up being in the best interest of consumers; this has been implicitly acknowledged by ASIC too."
@Transversal
I have little idea what the RC is going to recommend. However, I suspect that ASIC's opinion on the matter is increasingly irrelevant. I also suspect that the notion that the little guy can't afford good (or at least semi-good) advice, won't wash. If removing vertical integration costs X% more, but only delivers (X/2)% better outcomes, I suspect the public will still demand it, and perhaps the RC will too.
In truth, I am very doubtful that the cost increases will be greater than the benefits In fact, I suspect it will overwhelmingly be the opposite. Few things are more corrossive or costly (though much of the costs may be hidden) than poor incentives and a self-interested feeding frenzy.
The Soviet Union didn't collapse because their economy was structured inefficiently. It collapsed because the system enforced disfunctional incentives that were disconnected from the end customer. No amount of vertical integration of industries, or any other structural ploys, were ever going to compensate for that.
(20min delay)