The Data Is Clear that a Three-Tier System is Anti-Competitive

The question still to be answered is if there are any benefits to the system.

Some information and data paint a picture so clear and so obvious that once you see it and absorb the message, only a case of extreme self-discipline can negate the message. There is a report/story that I keep linked in my bookmarks in order to remind me of just how detrimental the three-tier system of alcohol distribution really is.

The basic message of the data in this story shows the following:

“Regulations that restrict how brewers can sell their own beer have inhibited growth in many states and have limited consumer choices on the shelf and at the tap.”

More specifically, those states that restrict brewers from distributing their beer directly to retailers and that restrict the movement of brewers from one wholesaler to another via “franchise laws” have fewer brewers.

Put more bluntly, strictly enforced three-tier systems in states restrict competition.

Here are the graphs: