ABSTRACT

It is almost superfluous to underline the importance of this issue. Whoever proposes today to censure the contemporary economies of countries that are still free pronounces the word “monopoly” with hostility. Often they are willing to address great private industry with this word, but we can say the trade union system is equally involved, as well as the system of patent, trademark, copyright, and all of the so-called intellectual property rights in general. Finally, of course, we can involve the government, which should (according to critics) remedy the shortcomings of “private” monopolies in our societies with specific interventions. In fact, many of the interventions either invoked or actually performed by governments have as their object or effect precisely that of creating monopolies in turn. The creation of gigantic and generalized monopolies is precisely a type of “remedy” against so-called private “monopolies.” As is known, this is what is pushed by “collectivists” today. The issue of monopolies may be considered in the guise of a boundary between economics on one side and the rule of law on the other (or, if you will, politics on the other), because it is not possible to have an adequate idea of it unless it is considered from both sides.