The financial crisis exacerbated the discussion of pricing principles in the global diamond market. The position of the largest producers of rough diamonds by De Beers and ALROSA, which announced a significant reduction in supply for price stabilization, was sharply criticized by the well-known expert Chaim Even-Zohar (October 30, 2008). Criticism of Even-Zohar is essentially reduced to the protection of classical liberal thesis - the only fair pricing mechanism is the balance of supply and demand in the free market, any deviations from this principle are negative phenomena, since they increase the risk of monopolization. Monopoly is a priori an evil, the meaning of existence is the robbery of the remaining market participants. Of course, The energetic rhetoric of Even-Zohar is quite capable of provoking tenderness among Karl Marx's few admirers, but it seems unlikely that the expert addressed his text to such a specific audience, alas, infinitely far from the realities of the diamond market. For those who are connected with this market, the position of Even-Zohar causes, at least, bewilderment.

Imagine for a moment that Even-Zohar's argument is flawless and the market decided to immediately follow his manifesto: the extracting companies do not reduce the supply, the cutters and dealers acquire the raw materials of exactly the characteristics they need at the moment, the price is set as a result of free trade, There are no regulators in the market. It can hardly be doubted that in this case, prices for rough diamonds will fall, and the decline is likely to be a landslide, That in the view of Even-Zohar, "true market levels" is obvious.

In such an impeccably free market, the fate of the extractive companies looks unenviable, but, at first glance, the cutters and dealers will prosper and, in the final analysis, consumers of jewelry with diamonds. "Lower prices - more demand" - it's just like a work of "hip-hop" culture. Indeed, if the prices for products, for example, Volkswagen reduce today by 30-40%, instead of the sales crisis, we will see the queue. But such an attractive logic ceases to work, if we recall the specifics of the diamond as a commodity.

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