ABSTRACT

The history of policymaking has been dominated by two rival assumptions about markets. Those who have advocated Keynesian-type policies have generally based their arguments on the claim that markets are imperfectly competitive. On the other hand laissez faire advocates have argued the opposite by claiming that in fact free market policies will eliminate "market imperfections" and reinvigorate perfect competition. The goal of this book is to enter into this important debate by raising critical questions about the nature of market competition.

Drawing on the insights of the classical political economists, Schumpeter, Hayek, the Oxford Economists’ Research Group (OERG) and others, the authors in this book challenge this perfect versus imperfect competition dichotomy in both theoretical and empirical terms. There are important differences between the theoretical perspectives of several authors in the broad alternative theoretical tradition defined by this book; nevertheless, a unifying theme throughout this volume is that competition is conceptualized as a dynamic disequilibrium process rather than the static equilibrium state of conventional theory. For almost all the others the growth of firm is consistent with a heightened degree of competitiveness, as both Marx and Schumpeter emphasized, and not a lowered one as in the conventional 'monopoly capital' view.

chapter |12 pages

Introduction

The search for an alternative

chapter 1|14 pages

The fallacy of competition

Markets and the movement of capital

chapter 5|16 pages

Schumpeterian competition

chapter 6|33 pages

The theory of innovative enterprise

Methodology, ideology, and institutions

chapter 10|38 pages

Components of differential profitability in a classical/Marxian theory of competition

A case study of Turkish manufacturing

chapter 11|31 pages

Classical competition and regulating capital

Theory and empirical evidence

chapter 12|27 pages

Are mega-corps competitive?

Some empirical tests of business competition