ABSTRACT
Monopoly is taken to mean the existence of effective control by an individual or group of individuals acting in concert over the production, distribution or sale of any good or service. Effective control is defined as control which is recognized to exist by outside parties, either in potentiality or in the actual exercise, and is such as to prevent them from freely choosing what to produce, how to produce, how to sell, to whom to sell and where to buy. Socialists were quite content with the development of monopoly capitalism as representing a fulfilment of Marxist prophecy, and believed that large units would be far easier to place under national control, while government departments always found it easier to deal with the representatives of industry rather than with the confusion of a competitive system. The function of profit under the competitive system is two fold: to provide an incentive to enterprise and to ensure the correct allocation of resources.
