Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on conventions and abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The British cartel system, 1880–1964
- 3 The state and the ‘monopoly problem’, 1880–1939
- 4 The war and the White Paper, 1940–44
- 5 The origins of the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Act, 1948
- 6 Interpretation of policy – the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission, 1949–56
- 7 The origins of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1956 – a re-interpretation
- 8 Resale price maintenance
- 9 Conclusions
- Appendixes
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on conventions and abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The British cartel system, 1880–1964
- 3 The state and the ‘monopoly problem’, 1880–1939
- 4 The war and the White Paper, 1940–44
- 5 The origins of the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Act, 1948
- 6 Interpretation of policy – the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission, 1949–56
- 7 The origins of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1956 – a re-interpretation
- 8 Resale price maintenance
- 9 Conclusions
- Appendixes
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
as a general principle of organisation I prefer the diffused initiative and quasi-automatism which go, or can be made to go, with private property and the market … This does not imply … any blind belief in the existence of economic harmonies. I have argued already that, within the present framework of law and institutions, I see no guarantee of good results from the free play of private interest. It does imply, however, the belief that, rather than to proceed by destroying the market and enterprise system, it is better to proceed by trying to improve it. It implies that, rather than stake all on the dubious prospects of overall collectivism, it is better to retain existing mechanisms, but to erect around them, so to speak, a system of laws and institutions within which they may be made to work the right way. It implies, that is to say, a belief, not in a spontaneously harmonious free enterprise, but rather in a deliberately constructed competitive order.
This idea of a competitive order is by no means a simple notion. It is not just trust-busting – although there are many ‘trusts’ which I would like to see bust. It involves the systematic revision of the whole apparatus of law and order – the law relating to patents, the law relating to restraint of trade, the law relating to limited liability and corporations, and many other branches of the law – with a view to creating conditions which tend to maintain effective competition, where it is technically possible, and to control monopoly in the public interest where technical conditions make monopoly inevitable. […]
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Constructing a Competitive OrderThe Hidden History of British Antitrust Policies, pp. 1 - 7Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995