Competition and Cooperation in Economics

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Paul H Rubin, How to Roll Back the Demonizing of Free Markets; 'Competition' carries a negative connotation, despite its contributions to human happiness. Wall Street Journal, dec 26, 2013 (opinion).
online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303562904579228020205294840

Quote:

"The 'competitive economy' would be better described as the 'cooperative economy.' Consider the most basic economic unit, the transaction. A transaction is cooperative because both parties gain from a voluntary exchange. There is competition in markets, but it's actually competition for the right to cooperate. Firms must compete for the privilege of selling to consumers—for the right to cooperate with consumers. Workers compete for the right to cooperate with employers. Competition matters because it ensures that the most efficient players will gain the right to cooperate on the best terms available. But competition plays a supporting role, while cooperation makes markets thrive.

"As economists say, in 'pure competition'—a free-market model in which resources can flow to their most valuable use without government or other interference—competition doesn't exist at all. * * * This discussion may seem semantic, but words have meaning and power.

Note:
(a) "Again, the words matter because viewing the circumstance in terms of competition could lead to penalizing those who are viewed as outcompeting him, even though they did nothing wrong. It might even lead to banning certain terms in transactions—with minimum-wage laws, for instance—that make it even more difficult for the poor person to cooperate. The cooperative metaphor, by contrast, would suggest that the solution is increasing the skills of the poor person, giving him something to sell on the market."

Some economists think minimum-wage laws discourage employers from low-skilled workers, who do not contribute much, and that without those laws, the unskilled workers may be hired, for less naturally.
(b) perfect competition
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_competition
(sometimes called pure competition)
(c) The introduction at the end of the opinion statets, "Mr Rubin is professor of economics at Emory University and past president of the Southern Economic Association. This was adapted from his presidential address on Nov 13."

The "presidential" refers to his "past president" position, not the United States president.