Cseres, K.J. --- "Towards a European Model of Economic Justice: The Role of Competition Law" [2011] ELECD 686; in Micklitz, Hans-W. (ed), "The Many Concepts of Social Justice in European Private Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: The Many Concepts of Social Justice in European Private Law

Editor(s): Micklitz, Hans-W.

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849802604

Section: Chapter 18

Section Title: Towards a European Model of Economic Justice: The Role of Competition Law

Author(s): Cseres, K.J.

Number of pages: 46

Extract:

18. Towards a European model of
economic justice: the role of
competition law
K.J. Cseres
Social justice and competition law are at first sight two conflicting disciplines.
Competition is primarily concerned with economic efficiency and it is aimed
at increasing the overall welfare of society through maintaining rivalry among
firms. Its goal is to control economic arrangements according to economic and
welfare criteria without distinguishing between different groups of society.
Social justice is associated with values of fairness and deservingness and it
applies moral criteria to the distribution of wealth and income.
There is a growing contradiction, both in legislation and regulations,
between the social and economic spheres. It is largely believed that more
social justice necessarily means less economic efficiency and vice versa.
Accordingly, social justice has often been regarded as an attack on the regula-
tory framework composed of competition law and contract law, and competi-
tion as a market institution governed by economic principles seems to pose a
threat to social justice. However, competition is an economic concept embed-
ded in a socio-political and legal system and this has relevant implications for
social justice. Neither competition law nor competition policy is made on the
basis of simple derivations from analytical economic models. The economic
concept of competition has to be transformed into policy goals in order to
reconcile different interests of society and it has to be translated into legal
rules in order to form clear standards for enforcement. In this process both
justice and ...