Competition Policy

Joseph Shaanan

Chapter Chapter 11 in Economic Freedom and the American Dream, 2010, pp 137-152 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract A long-held belief, going back to Thomas Jefferson, is that competition is necessary to prevent individuals or organizations from infringing on the economic liberties of others or undermining the freedom of the system.1 A genuinely competitive free market economy has a built-in mechanism for preventing the rise of economic power through decentralized decision making of numerous economic units. Yet in the laissez faire environment of the past 30 years, competition and its protection have been relegated to a lesser role often in the name of economic efficiency It would appear that when corporations’ freedom to profit is paramount, the importance of protecting competition becomes secondary, for all intents and purposes. Can competition survive in a completely laissez-faire environment? A competitive market’s existence is not guaranteed and can be destroyed by its participants3 so that laissez-faire does not ensure optimal economic performance.4 Without competition, the public risks facing monopolies and cartels. Economic freedom without a modicum of public supervision may lessen market competition as well as other freedoms.5 Specifically, in the context of the current framework, unrestricted freedom of corporations to profit by circumventing the market endangers both individual economic freedom and the freedom of markets.

Keywords: Market Power; Economic Efficiency; Economic Freedom; Competition Policy; Export Quota (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-10223-1_11

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230102231_11

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