ABSTRACT
The classical economists were the first to describe competition in meaningful detail. The mercantalists, most of whom benefited from their monopoly franchises, wrote little about competition (E.Johnson: 6). Fragmentary exceptions, however, can be found in Mun: 18-20 and Petty: 92. The classicals saw competition as the process which governed the formation of new prices. This process consisted of iterative adjustments sparked by three actions: forecasting out-year supply, developing new methods, and introducing new products. As Samuel Hollander has noted, ‘The Smithian conception of competition must be carefully distinguished from the modern conception which envisages sellers (and consumers) as “price takers” rather than “price makers”’ (Hollander 1973:126).
