Drew Hanson, chapter 3, question 6

The firmest example that rose up in chapter 3 about how government protects a free market, was the example about Viagra and pfizer's patent on it. The cost of production on a Viagra pill is extremely cheap, but Pfizer has pumped up its price to way more than the cost of production because the government protects its patent on the product for 20 years so they don't have any competition. Some wet blankets have a bone to pick with the government about this situation. They complain that it isn't fair for Pfizer to have this monopoly and that the government should let the free market go to work on Viagra. But wheelan says going to work on Viagra too soon would be a very bad and awkward situation. In order to incentivize a massive investment from companies in new products, patents have to be made to guarantee they won't have any stiff competition for a while. If companies were subjected to hard competition right after putting a lot into creating a new product, it would be just way too hard to turn a profit and nobody would even try to innovate.