ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the activities of the government departments and state agencies that intervene generally in the private sector of the economy at the microlevel in order to influence industrial performance. It sets out the legal framework and public interest guidance. The chapter discusses the competition policy, covering the work of the Restrictive Practices Court, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and the Price Commission. It discusses that development of industrial policy is traced, from the National Plan and the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation of the 1960s to the Industry Acts 1972 and 1975, the National Enterprise Board and the Industrial Strategy. The chapter outlines the legislation and institutions relating to competition policy and industrial policy in the United Kingdom in 1979. In any assessment of policy designed to improve industrial performance from the standpoint of the public or national interest, the interpretation of what counts as contributing to that interest is clearly crucial.
