PublikationWorking paper

Ratio Working Paper No. 353: From free competition to fair competition on the European internal market

Sammanfattning

This paper investigates whether an increased use and reinterpretation of what has been called “fair competition” has occurred at the expense of “free competition” among the central institutions of the European Union. We are also interested in assessing how frequently these terms have been used by the various EU institutions over time.

We have empirically examined this through a quantitative survey of more than 12,000 public documents, out of totally 242 000 documents containing 630 million words, in the EUR-lex database over the last 50 years, from 1970 to 2020. Our conclusion is that the emphasis of the common policies in the EU is likely to have shifted from free competition and an open market economy to “fair competition” in the sense of a level playing field, in official EU documents, such as treaties, EU acts institutions, preparatory documents relating to EU directives and recommendations including motions and resolutions, case law and more.

The European Commission has been a driving force in this development, followed closely by the European Parliament and subsequently by the Council of Ministers. This change entails a risk that the regulation of the European internal market has shifted so that the dynamics of the internal market and thus the EU’s competitiveness will weaken. The change also entails a centralization of decisions at EU level at the expense of the Member States.

Karlson, N., Herold, T. & Dalbard, K. More from less? From free competition to fair competition on the European internal market. Ratio Working Paper No. 353. Stockholm: Ratio.

Detaljer

Författare: Karlson, N., Herold, T. & Dalbard, K.
Publiceringsår: 2022
Publicerat i: Ratio Working Paper

Relaterat

Professor & grundare Ratio
Nils Karlson
+46708670351nils.karlson@ratio.se

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Populism thrives on discontent. It could be anything from migration and xenophobia to globalization and welfare failures. Populists deliberately use such discontent to promote polarization by demonizing opponents and attacking media, established elites, courts etc. in the name of the “true people”. As a consequence, democracy, the rule of law, and sound social and economic policies are undermined, with long-term disastrous effects. In many cases, however, the original discontent is caused by real policy failures that have not been properly solved. A major strategy for fighting back at the populist threats therefore must be to improve policy. This paper focuses on the policy failures of welfare states, a major source of discontent in many democracies. I argue that the concept of welfare has been captured and misinterpreted into government assistance programs, a presumption that needs to be abandoned and replaced by interpreting welfare as human flourishing, something that primarily can be promoted within markets and civil society, supported by a small, limited, and decent state.

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Insider activism in the forest industry: An emerging phenomenon?

Grafström, J., & Karlson, N.

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Sammanfattning

Insider activism refers to situations where public officials use administrative discretion to advance personal or ideological preferences. Although the concept has received increasing attention in organizational and political science research, empirical evidence remains limited. This research note examines whether insider activism may influence regulatory practice in the Swedish forestry sector and how perceived enforcement uncertainty affects forest owners’ behavior. A survey of forest owner representatives in southern Sweden indicates low trust in regulatory objectivity and weak perceptions of legal security. Many respondents report experiences of officials acting beyond their formal mandate. The findings suggest that perceived activism-driven uncertainty encourages defensive strategies among forest owners, including early harvesting and reduced willingness to report environmental values.

Bokkapitel

Karlson, N. (2025). Förord. I F. A. Hayek, Frihetens grundvalar (N. Karlson, Förord). Timbro. (Originalverket publicerat 1960)

Karlson, N.

Publiceringsår

2025

Publicerat i

Timbro förlag

Sammanfattning

I Frihetens grundvalar presenterar F. A. Hayek ett av historiens mest kraftfulla försvar för det fria och öppna samhället. Han utforskar frihetsbegreppets utveckling, välfärdsstatens framväxt och utvecklar den banbrytande teorin om den spontana ordning som uppstår när individer fritt får konkurrera med sina idéer.

Boken är en ymnig källa till argument för frihet och mot förtryck för det småskaliga och spontana framför det storskaligt planerade. Den fungerar som en ständig påminnelse om politikens begränsningar och uppmaning att värna individens fri- och rättigheter.

Frihetens grundvalar är Hayeks magnum opus. Verket publicerades första gången 1960 och fick sin första svenska översättning 1983. Denna utgåva innehåller ett nyskrivet förord av nationalekonomen Nils Karlson.

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PublikationWorking paper

Ratio Working Paper No. 353: From free competition to fair competition on the European internal market

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Sammanfattning

Karlson, N., Herold, T. & Dalbard, K. More from less? From free competition to fair competition on the European internal market. Ratio Working Paper No. 353. Stockholm: Ratio.