AUTHORITY: A MONOPOLY RUNNING AMOK IN BUSINESS1

This article show why Authority ‐ in the form of the Competition Commission ‐ produces harmful consequences when it seeks to impose idealised notions of competition on real‐world markets. The recent anti‐trust measures taken against Microsoft are a classic example of such regulatory failure. Paradoxically, monopolistic behaviour is characteristic of the provision of services by the public sector but draws no response from those authorities charged with curbing monopoly power.