Toward a Concrete Concept of Effective Competition

In presenting a concept of effective competition—that is, of a socially desirable state of affairs in an industry or a market—a writer should be specific about the issues, definite about his own views, explicit about necessary versus sufficient conditions, realistic about whether desirable conditions are attainable, discriminating in judging between a condition and its effects, comprehensive in listing market deficiencies, and stringent in describing his ideal. By this author's standards, a market is effectively competitive if and only if it is free of 25 flaws: unsatisfactory products, underuse or overuse, inefficient exchange, inefficient production, bad externalities, spoliation, exploitation, unfair tactics, wasteful advertising, irrationality, undue profits or losses, inadequate research, predation, pre‐emption, tying arrangements, resale price maintenance, refusals to deal, undesirable discrimination, misallocation of risk, undesirable mergers, undesirable entry, misinformation, inefficient rules of trading, and misregulation.