Monopoly Power and Competition

Manuela Mosca, Full Professor, University of Salento (Lecce), Italy

'Manuela Mosca has worked on the role of monopoly power in the history of economic analysis for the last twenty years. This book contains the upshot of her meticulous and insightful studies of how the problem was dealt with, the focus of attention being on four major Italian authors, Pareto, Pantaleoni, De Viti de Marco and Barone, co-founders of the Marginalist school of economics. However, the investigation is not limited to the development of pure theory, it treats also its policy implications and the way these were effectuated against the background of the contemporary political situation. The book contains solid analytical reconstructions, an illuminating politico-historical discourse and is a pleasure to read.'--Heinz D. Kurz, University of Graz, Austria'This book is an invaluable vaccine against the tendency, all too common in some economic circles, to identify ''competition'' with the classroom model of perfectly competitive markets. Mosca highlights the classical economists' vision of competition as an ongoing process, not an equilibrium state, explains the both the importance of potential competition in the classical framework and the way the concept of barriers to entry shapes modern views on the competition process. Her discussion makes clear the central place of vibrant Italian economic scholarship in developing these ideas.'--Stephen Martin, Purdue University, US'Manuela Mosca offers a fascinating portrait of the generation of economic ideas through interaction among four gifted theorists and friends: Pareto, Pantaleoni, de Viti de Marco, and Barone. These four theorists set forth a unique approach to competition and monopoly, and that approach maps nicely onto the growing interest in social complexity.'--Richard E. Wagner, George Mason University, US

• Contents: Introduction 1. The sources of monopoly power in the history of economic thought 2. The universal force of competition 3. Monopoly power: competition is never perfect 4. Monopoly power, competition and reality 5. The concept of the state and economic policy Conclusions References Name Index