Tuna Baskoy: The Political Economy of European Union Competition Policy: A Case Study of the Telecommunications Industry

Bartle, Ian, Capital & Class

Tuna Baskoy The Political Economy of European Union Competition Policy: A Case Study of the Telecommunications Industry, Routledge: London, 2008, 242 pp: 9780415965255 60 [pounds sterling] (hbk)

There is a widespread consensus on the importance of competition policy. The mainstream political right sees it as a necessary means of ensuring a free market economy, while for the mainstream left it is a way of curbing monopoly and the concentration of corporate power in capitalism. All see competition as necessary to promote innovation and to enhance economic efficiency, prosperity and social welfare. Competition policy is perceived as necessary because 'perfect competition' is not encountered in the real world, and firms often behave in ways that are detrimental to competition. Competition policy has thus become the central pillar of modern micro-economic policy, conducted mainly by technocratic agencies and paralleling monetary policy as the central pillar of macroeconomic policy. Most developed industrial nations have independent competition agencies, and the European Commission has significant …

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Publication information: Article title: Tuna Baskoy: The Political Economy of European Union Competition Policy: A Case Study of the Telecommunications Industry. Contributors: Bartle, Ian - Author. Journal title: Capital & Class. Volume: 35. Issue: 1 Publication date: February 2011. Page number: 159+. © 2009 Conference of Socialist Economists. COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale Group.

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