The Concept of Competition and Korean Fair Trade Act

No other concepts than the concept of competition are more frequently used in economic analysis. However, there is a big perceptional difference in understanding the concept of competition between most of the economists, neoclassical economists in particular, and the businessmen. The former views it as a‘static state’ whereas the latter views it as a ‘dynamic market process’, which results in quite often conflict in understanding the commercial world. In this paper, two concepts are reviewed with special reference to property and knowledge problem. The property and knowledge problem play an essential role with the competition as a process whereas they are meaningless with the competition as a state. Based upon the current analysis, Korean fair trade act is evaluated to determine whether it promotes or suppresses competition. The act suppresses competition because it is wrongly based upon the concept of competition as a static state, not as a dynamic market process. Therefore, the act should totally be reconsidered.