ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the phenomenon of modern concentration in industry, and discusses the way in which such concentration may lead to monopoly. Two main kinds of concentrative conditions leading to monopoly must be distinguished. The one is geographical or regional concentration of industry, the other is concentration resulting from the structure of the industrial unit. Both have their root in the development of concentrated, uniform mass markets, and these again are the necessary consequence of modern progress in transportation and communication. Where tariffs exist they may be taken as one of the conditions supporting monopolization, inasmuch as they create geographical immunity up to a certain point, and the classical economists were certainly right in their conception of the monopolistic effects of trade barriers. The direct connection between the imposition of tariffs as a measure favouring the national integration of industry and the exploitation of these conditions by quasi-monopolies will never be elucidated.
