• Competition policy aims to encourage competition between firms and protect consumer interests.
• Competition policy addresses anti-competitive practices like collusion and monitors market concentrations.
• Competition policy benefits consumers through lower prices, increased choice, and improved quality, but it should be carefully implemented to avoid hindering dynamic efficiency and incurring unnecessary costs.

Competition policy is implemented on a national scale and may also be overseen by economic areas such as the EU. The goals of competition policy are to encourage competition between firms and protect consumer interests. This includes legislating against anti-competitive practices like collusion and monitoring market concentrations and potential monopoly power. In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority enforces competition policy, while the EU also investigates cases of unfair competition between member states. Competition policy benefits consumers by increasing competition, which leads to lower prices, more consumer choice, and improved quality of goods and services. However, there are challenges in proving anti-competitive practices and potential benefits in more concentrated markets. It is important to carefully consider the costs and opportunity costs of implementing competition policies.