Dear all, Avoiding excessive competition (_ruin=F6ser Wettbewerb_) is one of the = topics of the German and Austrian literature on cartels of the 19th and = beginning 20th century that started with: Friedrich Kleinwaechter: Die Kartelle. Ein Beitrag zur Frage der = Organisation der Volkswirthschaft, Innsbruck 1883. In the beginning of the 20th century the German Parliament (_Reichstag_) = established a commission in order to investigate the legal and economic = structure of the different industrial cartels. Avoiding 'excessive = competition' was always a crucial argument to enter cartels - and the = German authorities accepted this perception; see: Kontradiktorische Verhandlungen =FCber deutsche Kartelle. Die vom = Reichsamt des Innern angestellten Erhebungen =FCber das inl=E4ndische = Kartellwesen in Protokollen und Berichten, Berlin 1903pp. - editions on = different industries. Robert W. Liefmann: Kartelle und Trusts und die Weiterbildung = volkswirtschaftlicher Organisation, 2nd ed. Stuttgart 1910. Robert W. Liefmann: Cartels, Concerns and Trusts ... With an = introduction by D. H. Macgregor, London 1932. Robert W. Liefmann: International cartels, combines and trusts : a = record of discussion on cartels at the International Economic Conference = and a summary of legislation on cartels, London (Europa Publishing) = 1927. Schmalenbachs' theory of the _Fixkostenfalle_ (fixed costs pitfall) = enlarged the German discussion on 'excessive competition' in the end of = the 1920s. He argued that companies with high fixed costs were not able = to adapt industrial capacities to worsening market conditions without = entering 'ruinous competition', see: Eugen Schmalenbach: Die Betriebswirtschaftslehre an der Schwelle der = neuen Wirtschaftsverfassung, In: Zeitschrift f=FCr = handelswissenschaftliche Forschung 22 (1928), No. 5, pp.241-251 Alfred Reckendrees