Nationalization in France

Abstract

IT is perfectly possible to imagine a State deciding to transfer the operation of an undertaking from private to public control for the simple reason that as a private undertaking it had become a monopoly. There is, indeed, the fear that the monopolist will sell his goods or services at a price permanently above their cost, and thus not only enjoy an unjustified profit at the expense of the consumer, but also restrict his production at a level below that which would have provided the maximum of satisfaction to the consumers as a whole. It is also to be feared that behind the shelter of monopoly with its easy profits, the private enterprise will jog along without developing to the utmost the productivity of the factors utilized.

Translated from the French by A. Henderson.