Competition, market structure, and government policy in Britain, 1945–70

Abstract

This thesis examines how government policy shaped competition and market structure in Britain between 1945 and 1970. Competition laws are introduced for the first time in this period, yet their effectiveness in fostering competition remains poorly understood, while economic challenges and concerns about relative performance led policymakers to intervene directly in the organization of industry. Existing research has largely focussed on Britain’s productivity and managerial weaknesses, but has paid less attention to how regulatory choices affecting market structure contributed to these outcomes. This study addresses that gap by analysing how post-war competition policy—particularly the regulation of collusion and mergers—altered firms’ incentives and behaviour. Using newly digitized evidence at the product, firm, and industry levels, the thesis combines archival sources with econometric analysis. It examines the impact of the introduction of anti-cartel legislation in the cigarette market; evaluates the effects of government-sponsored mergers in the late 1960s on innovation and operating performance; and explores the broader link between market structure and innovation during the period through firm- and industry-level analyses. The findings show that competition regulation was largely ineffective. Formal cartels were dismantled, but coordination persisted in new forms, while merger policy encouraged consolidation without measurable improvements in firm innovation or performance. These results indicate how weak and inconsistent competition regulation reinforced structural concentration in post-war Britain. I infer that these institutional shortcomings in market governance influenced the country’s wider economic performance during the period, contributing to the broader narrative of British relative economic decline in the twentieth century.

Date of Award	Jul 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	UKRI Economic and Social Research Council
Supervisor	Graham Brownlow (Supervisor) & Chris Colvin (Supervisor)