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HankronI add that the biggest source of the ineficiency is not so much due to the hobby's economic system, as due to the buying public.
For example: I once had a 13-card uncut panel of those super tiny 1943 bubblegum cards (Don't have my SCD with me so don't know the number. Something like M321 or such). The panel had a variety of nice players, featuring highest Joe DiMaggio and Babe Ruth. I tried selling the panel twice in a sale for ~$70 and both times it didn't sell. I put it on eBay with min of $60-- didn't sell. Finally, I took apart the panel into singles (perforated edges) and put the singles on eBay, just a few days after the first auction ended. Ruth sold for ~$95, the DiMaggio for ~$145, and the rest of the cards for around $60 total.
As I said, the buying public is the major source of ineficiency, not the system.