Is It Reasonable to Rely on Competition Law?

As a process of “quiet harmonization” is taking among competition laws of the various Member States, the question I wish to address may seem a little bit provocative: Do we need competition law at all ? This may look even more extreme if you consider that most of the proponents of competition law are largely in favour of a market economy. It is very difficult to be against someone who basically will agree with you on most economic policy issue.One way to prove that this is not such a silly question is by considering that after all, we never had competition law—although we had many regulations—before 1890 in the United State, and nothing at all in most European countries until the 60s. (I will come back on exceptions such as Germany). Therefore the question is: Are we better off with or without competition law? To answer this question, I will first imagine a dialogue between two economists holding different views on the topic (assuming both sides to be honest and “pro-market”). I will then come back on some deeper theoretical questions.