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Adam Smith on Monopoly Theory. Making good a lacuna

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  • Neri Salvadori
  • Rodolfo Signorino

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="sjpe12040-abs-0001"> This article analyses Adam Smith's views on monopoly by focusing on Book IV and V of The Wealth of Nations. It argues that the majority of scholars have assessed Smith's analysis of monopoly starting from premises different from those, actually though implicitly, used by Smith. We show that Smith makes use of the word ‘monopoly’ to refer to a heterogeneous collection of market outcomes, besides that of a single seller market, and that Smith's account of monopolists' behaviour is richer than that provided by later theorists. We also show that Smith was aware of the growth-retarding effect of monopoly and urged State regulation.

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  • Neri Salvadori & Rodolfo Signorino, 2014. "Adam Smith on Monopoly Theory. Making good a lacuna," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 61(2), pages 178-195, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:scotjp:v:61:y:2014:i:2:p:178-195
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/sjpe.2014.61.issue-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226199993 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Kurz,Heinz D. & Salvadori,Neri, 1997. "Theory of Production," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521588676, January.
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    14. Neri Salvadori & Rodolfo Signorino, 2016. "Competition," Chapters, in: Gilbert Faccarello & Heinz D. Kurz (ed.), Handbook on the History of Economic Analysis Volume III, chapter 6, pages 70-81, Edward Elgar Publishing.
      • Salvadori, Neri & Signorino, Rodolfo, 2011. "Competition," MPRA Paper 38387, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    2. Huang, Biao, 2022. "On the Over-determination Problem in a Two Sector Neo-Kaleckian Model," Centro Sraffa Working Papers CSWP56, Centro di Ricerche e Documentazione "Piero Sraffa".

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • B12 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Classical (includes Adam Smith)
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly

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