Liberalism as State Non-Interference. The Development of Swedish Cartel Legislation 1911–1953

In Sweden free competition became regarded as very unrealistic during the first half of the 20th century. Stricter legislation to combat cartels came about during the second half. This has been interpreted as part of Americanization as free competition is regarded as one of American basic values. In this article the argument is that this development can also be explained from internal factors. During the period 1911?1936 the debate in the Swedish parliament was focused on production issues and private organization of competition in the form of cartels was regarded as a way to diminish costs and thereby reducing prices. During 1937?1953 the resistance against state intervention was dissolved. The urbanization process had by then made Sweden into a society of consumers and market issues were more in focus. Cartel practices related to consumption, like the gross price system, were more difficult to defend than production cartels.