Inward-Spiraling Competition

A market condition where excessive competition drives participants to pursue short-term market share through self-destructive tactics—such as predatory pricing, unsustainable working hours, and counterproductive innovation—that erode industry profitability and fail to create genuine social value.

Articles on this principle

• Why Market Regulators Must Crack Down on "Involutionary" Competition: From Zero-Sum to Negative-Sum Games

  When delivery riders complete 200 orders daily, algorithms clock workers to the second, and subsidy wars push entire industries into negative profit margins—economists ask: whose prosperity did competition actually create?