Ordoliberals considered competition law the keystone of their program: “Monetary and other policies designed to foster competition would have little effect, ordoliberals argued, if firms could act in concert in setting prices or determining output, or if firms with economic power could use that power to foreclose opportunities for competition” (Gerber 1998, 250). Competition law served both to create and protect the conditions of complete competition; “it had to block the anti-competitive mechanisms which society can spawn” (Lemke 2001, 195). It sought to prevent monopoly power, to extirpate existing monopoly power, and—if dissolution was not feasible—to control conduct stemming from monopoly power. Ultimately, it served to eradicate private monopoly power, such as cartels and, importantly, exclusionary practices. In general, in keeping with the classical liberalism exemplified by Director in 1947 and by Simons, ordoliberals sought to eliminate monopolies, minimize “big business,” and support an economy comprised of small and medium-sized firms.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1089