The political economy of antimonopoly legislation in the EEC, UK and India: its implications for business regulatory policies in developing countries

Antimonopoly, antitrust or competition legislation is one of the most important business regulatory policies in developed countries whose main objectives are preventing formation of monopolistic structures and, regulating individual or collective business behaviour which may restrict actual or potential competition. Before the second world war antitrust legislation existed only in the United States and Canada basically to control mergers and cartels. In contrast, European governments often promoted mergers and cartelization of firms in a number of industries in order to avoid bankruptcies of industrial firms as result of the economic depression of the thirties.