raises an important philosophical i

raises an important philosophical issue. If goods and services and resources
should be freely traded, why should firms not be allowed to buy and sell other firms free
from government control and regulation? For most political decision makers, the answer
to this problem lies in the previously mentioned idea of market failure – the need to intervene
to reduce or prevent undesirable economic and/or social consequences emanating
from free market operations. For most people, the question is not ‘whether’ to intervene
but ‘when’ and ‘how’; should it be discretionary or non-discretionary? That being the case,
government intervention in the form of competition policy is as much a political as it is an
economic problem and one which is subject to external as well as national influences