Effizienz oder Wettbewerbsfreiheit?

What are the goals of the law against private restraints on competition: the protection of the individuals' freedom to compete or consumer welfare? What are the functions of competition authorities and courts: the control of market results or safeguarding the competitive process? Whose interests are protected by the law against private restraints on competition? What significance can be attributed to economics in competition law and to what extent are economic approaches compatible with the ruling law? The author deals with these and other questions and attempts to find answers from an epistemological, an economic, a legal and a philosophic perspective.