A Paradoxical Convergence

French Economists and the Policy toward Cartels from the 1870s to the Eve of the Great Depression

Bibliographic Data

ID4297168
AuthorsDavid Spector (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Paris School of Economics ([email protected]), corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume56
Issue2
Pages217-258
Publication date2024-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory of Political Economy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2702 • E-ISSN: 1527-1919
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/00182702-11055059
OpenAlexW4389266143
LanguageEN
References cited35

As in other industrialized countries, cartelization was widespread in France after the 1870s. Cartels, and the public policy toward them, were frequently addressed in the public debate. This article deals with the stance taken by French economists on this subject until the Great Depression. Although they were divided into several groups that were in sharp disagreement on most scientific and policy issues, French economists were almost united in their lack of support for anticartel policy. The liberal economists' opposition stemmed from their general hostility to government intervention. Unlike in the English-speaking world, where many economists otherwise critical of government gradually became supportive of antitrust after mounting evidence had revealed the scope of certain kinds of exclusionary behavior, the French liberal economists remained constant in their opposition. The more reform-minded university professors, as well as the sociologists- economists of the Durkheimian school, were unenthusiastic about policies meant to safeguard competition because they viewed "excessive" market competition as destabilizing and wasteful. Finally, the most prominent experts in industrial economics, who were employed by large companies or professional organizations, also advocated a hands-off approach, in accordance with their employers' preferences

Cartel · Convergence (economics · Depression (economics · Economic interventionism · Economics · Great Depression · Incentive · Keynesian economics · Law and economics · Macroeconomics · Market economy · Neoclassical economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Economic Theory and Institutions · Economic Theory and Policy · Law · Political Economy and Marxism · Wine Industry and Tourism

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