A lot of it depends on the intensity of competition. The ideal, I think, is for competition to the extent necessary to clean out artificial scarcity rents, so that stuff is as cheap as possible. The other side of this is that, the lower the expenses of living — “Ramen profitability” — the less pressure there is on the producer. I.e., the smaller the revenue stream required to subsist comfortably. An economy in which the costs of market entry and production are minimized actually mimizes the intensity of competition and conduces to cooperation.