The news media regularly describe how big industries abuse a dominant market position. During the last decade the OECD has furthermore criticized Danish competition legislation for being too weak: weak competition results in high prices, which hurt consumers. Within the European Union, Denmark has been one of the last member states to abandon the principle of control in favor of the stronger principle of prohibition. In an international perspective, Danish industries have thus for a long time managed to avoid strict public competition regulation.

This book analyzes the developments of Danish competition policy during the twentieth century. The big industries have continuously fought for more lenient competition regulation, but over time they failed. Despite having maintained some influence in the administrative organs, the political influence of the industries has not matched their high public esteem. They have had to surrender to political parties that focus on strengthening consumers’ interests through tight competition legislation. At the beginning of the century the industries had a much more powerful position vis-à-vis bourgeois parties than at present. Today, political parties endeavor to appeal to the electorate as protectors of consumers’ interests. One of the conclusions of the book thus points to the present, yet historically weak political position of large industries in designing Danish competition policy.