We compare and analyse two different conceptions of market competition: the walrasian notion of perfect competition and the Classical notion of free competition: while the former may be described as an equilibrium state in which atomistic agents treat prices parametrically, the latter is a...

This is an entry produced for the Handbook of the History of Economic Analysis, edited by Gilbert Faccarello and Heinz D. Kurz (eds). Volume 3. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar, forthcoming. We analyze competition as rivarly in a race, as a specific market structure, and as...

The paper analyzes Adam Smith’s views on monopoly focusing on Book IV and V of The Wealth of Nations and argues that Smith has left his analysis of monopoly in an embryonic form while the majority of scholars have assessed it starting from premises different from those, actually though...