| Summary: | "Antitrust needs an overhaul. So cry neo-Brandeisians, who urge a crackdown on industrial concentration. To the alarm of mainstream antitrust thinkers, the critics have found traction. Hostility to modern competition policy, however, did not arise in a vacuum. This polarized era has seen political upheaval, a populist revival, and diminished faith in capitalism. Implicated in that phenomenon is a renewed focus on antitrust.1 The left desires a fundamental rethink. Some on the right, dispensing with once-cherished principles, yield to protectionist impulses. Antitrust policy thus finds itself at a rare juncture. A shift in emphasis seems certain; a more radical overhaul is possible.2 This point in antitrust history presents an opportunity. A national conversation is upon us - a rare moment for such a wonkish field. Working within a framework largely untouched since 1981, competition law has built on decades of agency experience informed by industrial economics. Today's antitrust thought leaders are rightly proud of the law that they have shaped.3 Yet, familiarity can impede progress. Some anti-monopolists advance iconoclastic positions. For those warmly accustomed to the status quo, it is easy to reject such claims outright. Yet, reformists have pointed to evidence that, though incomplete and ambiguous, raises troubling questions. Now is a time for introspection"--
|
|---|
