Alastair Mundy: Beware the impact of super-normal profits

I was recently chatting to a chap who runs a shop on our local High Street.

He sells what my mother-in-law eloquently describes as tut (ie tat) and appears to have secured a decent living partly because of the reluctance of the large discount retailers to compete against him (something which he humbly assured me is a consequence of the low footfall in the High Street rather than the leading edge innovation he has introduced to the sub-sector).  Apparently pleased to have found someone to talk to, my new-found entrepreneurial friend shared the secret of his success with me.  He explained that while he stocks numerous items ranging from foam footballs and paper...