Ludwig Erhard

Erhard pressed for West Germany's law against restraints of competition, passed in 1957 and effective from 1958 with the new Federal Cartel Office. This made competition protection an institutional part of the social-market project. The enacted law was a compromise with exemptions, falling short of the stronger rules he had sought. His case therefore illustrates both sustained political sponsorship and the difference between an advocate's preferred design and the legislation that survives negotiation.