This concept may relate to some American concepts of competition which =  
were seen as being excessive, without necessarily using the same term.  =  
These ideas were developed between 1885 and 1905 in the context of =  
evolutionary thinking in economics, but there may also be German =  
connections given links between American economics and German economics =  
at this time (for example, in the work on competition by Henry Carter =  
Adams).  If you want to check out these American ideas for comparison =  
and intellectual parallels - see my article in HOPE (History of =  
Political Economy) "Competing Notions of Competition in Late-Nineteenth =  
Century American Economics (1993, Vol 25:4) and in the special issue of =  
HOPE for 1995 called Higgling: Transactors and Their Markets in the =  
History of Economics edited with Neil De Marchi.  
  
Mary Morgan