Article contents
The Invisible Handshake:Cartelization in the Netherlands, 1930–2000
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2011
Abstract
Cartels were critical to the shaping of twentieth-century market structures. Although laws against cartels began to be passed in the 1950s, the attitude toward these collusive organizations remained constant over most of the century. Enforcement did not begin until well into the 1990s. Dutch policy within the European framework underwent a series of adjustments, and changes in the Dutch business system indicate a shift toward a more liberal market economy, which was accompanied by an increasingly negative view of cartels.
- Type
- National Business Systems: Focus on the Netherlands
- Information
- Business History Review , Volume 84 , Issue 4: Business History and Varieties of Capitalism , Winter 2010 , pp. 751 - 771
- Copyright
- Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2010
References
1 Schröter, Harm G., “Cartelization and Decartelization in Europe, 1870–1995: Rise and Decline of an Economic Institution,” Journal of European Economic History 25, no. 1 (1996)Google Scholar; Fear, Jeffrey, “Cartels,” in The Oxford Handbook of Business History, ed. Jones, Geoffrey and Zeitlin, Jonathan (Oxford, 2008) 268–92.Google Scholar
2 Whitley, Richard, “Societies, Firms and Markets: The Social Structuring of Business Systems,” in European Business Systems: Firms, Markets in Their National Contexts, ed. Whitley, Richard (London, 1992)Google Scholar; Hall, Peter A. and Soskice, David, ed. Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage (Oxford, 2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3 See, for example,Brems, Hans, Product Equilibrium under Monopolistic Competition (Boston, 1951)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fear, “Cartels.”
4 Gerwen, Jacques van and Goey, Ferry de, Ondernemers in Nederland: Variaties in ondernemen (Amsterdam, 2009), 214–21.Google Scholar
5 See for example, “Note Minister of Finance jhr. mr. D.J. de Geer, 21–03–1922,” no. 5885, inv. 2.06.001, National Archives, The Hague; Sluyterman, Keetie E., Dutch Enterprise in the Twentieth Century: Business Strategies in a Small Open Economy (London, 2005) 52–56.Google Scholar
6 Arnoldus, Doreen, “Nederlandse kartelvorming in de oliën en vettenindustrie in de jaren dertig,”NEHA Jaarboek 60 (1997): 226–57, 229–30.Google Scholar
7 Sluyterman, Keetie E. and Winkelman, Helene J. M., “The Dutch Family Firm Confronted with Chandler's Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism, 1890–1940,” Business History 35, no. 4 (1993): 152–83, 154–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8 Dutch politicians began to make serious study of the cartel laws in other countries. Among others, they paid attention to the Enabling Act in Great Britain, the Gesetz über Errichtung von Zwangskartellen in Germany, and the loi fi xant les conditions dans lesquelles des accords professionals peuvent être rendu obligatoires en périodes de crise in France.
9 Bruggeman, Jan and Camijn, Aart, Ondernemers verbonden: 100 jaar centrale ondernemersorganisaties in Nederland (Wormer, 1999), 166–76.Google Scholar
10 Officially the law was called Wet op het Algemeen verbindend en onverbindend verklaren van Ondernemersovereenkomsten.
11 Documentation on Business Agreement Act 1930–1935, no. 8530, inv. 2.06.001, National Archives.
12 Documentation on business agreements and cartels in different European countries, 1934–1935, no. 8704, inv. 2.06.001, National Archives.
13 Bruggeman and Camijn, Ondernemers verbonden, 167.
14 Commission of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, 31–10–1939, no. 3752, inv. 2.06.001, National Archives.
15 Jong, Loe de, Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, deel I, Voorspel (The Hague, 1969), 644–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16 Brusse, Wendy Asbeek and Griffiths, Richard, “Paradise Lost or Paradise Regained? Cartel Policy and Cartel Legislation in the Netherlands,” in Competition Policies in Europe, ed.Martin, Stephen (Amsterdam, 1998), 16–17.Google Scholar
17 Ibid., 17–18.
18 Sluyterman, Dutch Enterprise, 157.
19 Milward, Alan S., The Reconstruction of Western Europe 1945–1951 (London, 1984), 56–61Google Scholar; Wells, Wyatt, Antitrust and the Formation of the Postwar World (New York, 2002), 157–87.Google Scholar
20 Brusse and Griffi ths, “Paradise Lost,” 15–39; Sluyterman, Dutch Enterprise, 157–59.
21 Schröter, Harm G., Americanization of the European Economy: A Compact Survey of the American Economic Influence in Europe since the 1880s (Dordrecht, 2005), 67–71.Google Scholar
22 Uitermark, Peter J., Econonomische mededinging en algemeen belang (Groningen,1990), 314–26.Google Scholar
23 M. R. Mok, Kartelrecht (Zwolle, 1998), 13–15.
24 In Germany the criterion for judging a restrictive practice, for example, was not the public interest but restricting competition. In the Netherlands no distinction was drawn between cartel-type agreements and “dominant position” whereas the German law made a distinction between horizontal and vertical agreements, dominant positions, and other restrictions. The German legislation was based on prohibition, whereas the Dutch Economic Competition Act was focused on abuse.
25 Wertheimer, H. W., “The Anti-Trust Law of the Netherlands,” FBI Review (August 1960)Google Scholar: 45, quoted in Forsyth, Murray, “Cartel Policy and the Common Market,” Political and Economic Planning 28 (1962): 464, 227.Google Scholar
26 Brusse and Griffi ths, “Paradise Lost,” 22–23.
27 Kruithof, Robert, De verticale prijsbinding van merkartikelen: Een vergelijkende studie van het recht van de zes lidstaten van e Europese Economische Gemeenschap (Brussels, 1973), 203–4Google Scholar; Schrover, Marlou, “De Fiva als een bijzondere variant van collectieve verticale prijsbinding, 1928–1975,” in NEHA-Jaarboek voor economische, bedrijfs- en techniekgeschiedenis 59 (1996): 292–329.Google Scholar
28 Brusse and Griffiths, “Paradise Lost,” 22–23; Quaedvlieg, Harald M. J., Ondernemende autoriteiten (Deventer, 2001), 44–52.Google Scholar
29 Minutes of the Houses of Parliament, 1961–1962, B 6689; see also Uitermark, 333.
30 Jong, Henk W. de, “Nederland: Kartelparadijs van Europa,” Economisch Statistische Berichten,14 Mar. 1990.Google Scholar
31 Kleinwächter, Friedrich, Die Kartelle: Eine Frage der Organisation der Volkswirtschaft (Innsbruck, 1883), quoted in Schröter, “Cartelization and Decartelization in Europe,” 1; Mok,Google ScholarKartelrecht, 21.
32 Several explanations on the relation between cartel formation and business cycles coexist. See, for example, Lamoreaux, Naomi, The Great Merger Movement in American Business, 1895–1904 (Cambridge, U.K., 1985)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Levenstein, Margaret C. and Suslow, Valerie Y., “What Determines Cartel Success?” Journal of Economic Literature 44, no. 1 (2006): 43–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Grossman, Peter Z., ed., How Cartels Endure and How They Fail: Studies of Industrial Collusion (Cheltenham, 2004).Google Scholar
33 See, for example, Jong, Herman J. de, De Nederlandse industrie, 1913–1965: Een vergelijkende analyse op basis van de productiestatistieken (Amsterdam, 1999), 9–14.Google Scholar
34 Levenstein and Suslow, “What Determines Cartel Success?” 43–95; Scherer, Frederic M. and Ross, David, Industrial Market Structure and Economic Performance (Boston, 1990), 285–94, 307.Google Scholar
35 One of the most important studies in this field was Palmer's test of the hypothesis that firms in declining industries were more likely to collude than firms in expanding industries. He found that in the U.S. (1966–1970) this hypothesis was consistent. See Palmer, John, “Some Economic Conditions Conducive to Collusion,” Journal of Economic Issue 6 (1972):29–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36 Schelven, Arnoud L. van, Onderneming en familisme; opkomst, bloei en neergang van de textielonderneming Van Heek & Co te Enschede (Leiden, 1984), 170–81.Google Scholar
37 Fischer, Eric J., Gerwen, Jacques L. J. M. van. and Winkelman, Helene J. M., Bestemming Semarang: Geschiedenis van de textielfabrikanten in Oldenzaal, 1817–1970 (Olenzaal, 1991), 274–79.Google Scholar
38 For discussion, see Levenstein, and Suslow, , “What Determines Cartel Success?”; Jong, Henk W. de, Dynamische markttheorie (Leiden, 1981), 151–53Google Scholar; Scherer and Ross, Industrial Market Structure and Economic Performance, 285–94, 307.
39 Bouwens, Bram, Focus op formaat: Strategie, schaalvergroting en concentratie in de Nederlandse papier- en kartonindustrie, 1945–1993 (Utrecht, 2003), 164–69.Google Scholar
40 Compare Whitley, “Societies, Firms and Markets,” 5–45; Olie, Rene, European Transnational Mergers (Maastricht, 1996), 59.Google Scholar
41 Sluyterman, Dutch Enterprise, 159.
42 Ibid., 181–82; Zanden, Jan Luiten van, The Economic History of the Netherlands, 1914–1995: A Small Open Economy in the “Long” Twentieth Century (London, 1997), 184Google Scholar; CBS, Tweehonderd jaar statistiek in tijdreeksen, 1800–1999 (Voorburg, 2001), 49–50.Google Scholar
43 Nussbaum, Helga, “Market Organization: International Cartels and Multinational Enterprises,” in Multinational Enterprise in International Perspective, ed. Teichova, Alice, Lévy-Leboyer, Maurice. and Nusbaum, Helga (Cambridge, U.K., 1986), 131–44.Google Scholar
44 See for example Rahl, James A., “Cartels and Their Regulation,” in Competition in International Business, ed. Schachter, Oscar and Hellawell, Robert (New York, 1981), 240–50.Google Scholar
45 Europese Gemeenschap voor Kolen en Staal (European Coal and Steel Community), Europese Economische Gemeenschap (European Economic Community), Europese Gemeenschap voor Atoomenergie (European Atomic Energy Community), Eerste verslag over het mededingingsbeleid (Brussels, 1972)Google Scholar; Beschikking van de Commissie, 16 July 1969 (69/240/EEC), Publicatieblad van de Europese Gemeenschappen, 5 Aug. 1969Google Scholar; Gemeenschappen, Commissie van de Europese, Dertig jaar gemeenschapsrecht (Brussels, 1981).Google Scholar For more information on articles 85 and 86, see also Jong, Henk W. de, Ondernemersconcentratie (Leiden, 1971), 26–37Google Scholar; Themaat, Pieter VerLoren van and Ottenvanger, Tom R., Concentraties en joint ventures in het mededingingsrecht (Zwolle, 1992), 26–38.Google Scholar
46 De Jong, Ondernemersconcentratie, 144; Hoyink, J. B. A. and Geeve, A. J. C., Gelet op artikel 2: Cijfers over fuses, 1970–1996 (The Hague, 1997), 24–25.Google Scholar
47 Van Zanden, The Economic History of the Netherlands, 217–18; Bureau, Centraal Plan, De Nederlandse economie in 1985 (The Hague, 1981), 169–318.Google Scholar
48 New harvesting methods reduced both the production of straw and its usefulness as a raw material. New competitors on the market of packaging materials, by producing substitutes had an equally adverse effect on the existing industry.
49 Bouwens, Focus op formaat, 239–64.
50 Fear, “Cartels,” 279; De Jong, “Nederland: Kartelparadijs van Europa.”
51 Harvey, David, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (Oxford, 2005); Sluyterman, Dutch Enterprise, 184–85.Google Scholar
52 Pons, Jean-Francois and Sautter, Timothée, “Ensuring a Sound Competition Environment: Rules, Practice and Challenges of European Competition Policy,” in Competition Policy in Europe, ed. Eekhoff, Johann (Berlin, 2004), 29–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
53 Goyder, Dan G., EC Competition Law (Oxford, 1998), 561–604Google Scholar; Craig, Paul and Burca, Grainne de, Regulating Cartels in Europe (Oxford, 2003), 140–42.Google Scholar
54 Minutes of Parliament, 1998–1999.Google Scholar
55 Bergeijk, Peter A. G. van, “On the Allegedly Invisible Dutch Construction Sector Cartel,” Journal of Competition Law and Economics 4 no. 1 (2008): 115–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar See also the Web site of the NMa: www.nmanet.nl, accessed 25 Sept. 2008.
56 Speech of Neelie Kroes, 14 Apr. 2008; see also http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition.
- 14
- Cited by