Taming the Leviathans: How Norway Managed to Regulate the Strongest International Cartels and Trusts 1900-1940
The emergence of cartels and trusts towards the end of the 19th century gradually forced political authorities all over the world to think hard and deep about how markets ought to operate. The private regulation of economic actors often led to concentration of market power, to the possibility to squeeze smaller competitors, and the ability to wring monopoly profits from customers and consumers. Private regulation measures were therefore slowly met with political regulation in different parts of the world, and in the process, the regulatory scope of states was significantly expanded. Concentration in industry thus led to growing state intervention in the economy.
This paper analyses how a small state responded to the growing dominance of international cartels and trusts in the first half of the 20th century. The article asks two main research questions. First, which economic tools did the Norwegian authorities utilize to confront the market power of international cartels and trusts, and second, what was the effect of the policies on the operations of these large economic entities in Norway? In the first part of the paper we discuss the different regulatory tools which the Norwegian political authorities had at hand to respond to the perceived threat of cartelization. In the second part, we discuss how these tools were employed in arguably the three most significant trust-cases in this period of Norwegian history; namely the actions against British-American Tobacco Company, Standard Oil and Unilever. The way that the political authorities responded to these three trusts was not only important in each specific case but would also have significant implications for the development of the more general framework of anti-competitive regulation in Norway. Since these giant trusts were perceived as a challenge, both to the interests of Norwegian consumers as well as to Norwegian producers, they set in motion debates which lasted for years, and which would result in significant regulatory expansion.
