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Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access published online on October 27, 2007
Cambridge Journal of Economics, doi:10.1093/cje/bem031
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.

Monoculture versus diversity in competition economics

Oliver Budzinski*

* Philipps-University of Marburg, Germany

Address for correspondence: Philipps-University of Marburg, Department of Economics, Chair of Economic Policy, Am Plan 2, D-35032 Marburg, Germany; email: budzinski{at}staff.uni-marburg.de

Economics rightfully represents the major basis for competition policy. Next to generating knowledge about competition and its welfare effects, the currently popular ‘more-economic approach’ is charged with a number of additional hopes and expectations. While this article highlights the benefits of economics-based competition policy, it takes a cautious stance towards excessive expectations, in particular regarding the idea that a monocultural, ‘unified’ competition theory as an exact, objective and unerring scientific approach to antitrust could make normative assessment and generalisations superfluous. Diversity in competition economics is advocated in two ways. First, competition economics is empirically characterised by a considerable pluralism of theories and policy paradigms. Second, it is demonstrated that this diversity of theories is theoretically beneficial for future scientific progress. As no ultimate competition theory can ever be expected., the ‘more-economic approach’ must be extended in order to embrace diversity.

Key Words: Antitrust • More-economic approach • Competition policy paradigms • Industrial economics • Methodology of science

JEL classifications: L40, B50, L10, K21

Manuscript received January 9, 2006; final version received February 7, 2007.


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