In a price war, the collateral damage is a boost to living standards

It's not government regulation that raises living standards, says Matthew Lynn. It's competition.

A good few months could be on the horizon for anyone who doesa weekly shop at the supermarket. After yet another dismal set of results, Morrisons has announced plans to slash a range of prices to try and win backsome of the customers it's lost to thefast-expanding discount chains.

In response, Tesco has already beefed up its promotions, and it is under pressure from its shareholders to make deeper price cuts to hang on to its leading market position.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.