Reforming Antitrust

Industrial consolidation, digital platforms, and changing political views have sparked debate about the interplay between public and private power in the US and created a bipartisan appetite for potential antitrust reform. Alan J. Devlin argues that US antitrust laws warrant revision but with more nuance than current debates suggest, offering a new vision of antitrust reform achieved by refining enforcement policies and jettisoning an obsession with minimizing errors of economic analysis.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 300 pages
Publication date: 19 August 2021
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

The interplay between public and private power in the United States has been a subject of intense debate, fueled by industrial consolidation, digital platforms, and shifting political perspectives. This has led to a bipartisan desire for potential antitrust reform, which would represent the most significant shift in US competition policy in half a century. While some neo-Brandeisians advocate for a revival of antitrust through a return to structuralism and a rejection of economic analysis based on competitive effects, proponents of the status quo express alarm at the current state of affairs. In his analysis, Alan J. Devlin proposes a middle ground. While he believes that US antitrust laws require revision, he suggests that the current debates overlook the need for a more nuanced approach. Devlin proposes a new vision of antitrust reform that involves refining enforcement policies and abandoning an unwarranted obsession with minimizing errors of economic analysis.

Industrial consolidation, digital platforms, and changing political views have spurred debate about the interplay between public and private power in the United States and have created a bipartisan appetite for potential antitrust reform that would mark the most profound shift in US competition policy in the past half-century.

While neo-Brandeisians call for a reawakening of antitrust in the form of a return to structuralism and a concomitant rejection of economic analysis founded on competitive effects, proponents of the status quo look on this state of affairs with alarm.

Scrutinizing the latest evidence, Alan J. Devlin finds a middle ground. US antitrust laws warrant revision, he argues, but with far more nuance than current debates suggest.

He offers a new vision of antitrust reform, achieved by refining our enforcement policies and jettisoning an unwarranted obsession with minimizing errors of economic analysis.

Weight: 474g
Dimension: 152 x 228 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781108999908