Middle Men: I Bet You Thought You Were Supposed to Hate These Guys

Ticket scalpers and other middle men—people who connect sellers with buyers and profit by doing so—help make our markets more efficient.

Stephen Davies

Stephen Davies is a program officer at the Institute for Humane Studies and the education director at the Institute for Economic Affairs in London.

I bet you thought you were supposed to hate these guys: ticket scalpers, middle men, people who scour the secondary market for profit. If you’re like most Americans, you don’t think very highly of them. Yet, Prof. Stephen Davies says they serve an important function in the marketplace. Ticket scalpers and other middle men—people who connect sellers with buyers and profit by doing so—help make our markets more efficient. In some cases, middle men may even perform a life-​saving service, as they did in 18th century England during periods of food shortage. Have you ever thought about the contributions middle men make to society?