Antitrust Policy: Lessons from the US
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Description
Whether applied through US, European, or other national competition laws, antitrust has come to represent an important competition policy instrument that underlies many countries' public policies toward business. As a set of instruments whose goal is to make markets operate more competitively, however, antitrust often comes into direct conflict with regulatory policies, including forms of price and output controls, antidumping laws, access limitations, and protectionist industrial policies. Courts in the US have widely adopted economic analysis as the theoretical foundation for evaluating antitrust concerns. Yet, antitrust statutes in the European Union also place heavy emphasis on the role of economics. This article provides a view of antitrust primarily from the perspective of the US policy; the review that follows illustrates a theme that has worldwide applicability. This article highlights: (1) the early antibig business period in the US, in which the structure of industry was paramount; (2) the period in which performance as well as structure was given significant weight, and there was a systematic attempt to balance the efficiency gains from concentration with the inefficiencies associated with possible anticompetitive behavior; and (3) the most recent period, which includes the growth of high technology and network industries, in which firm behavior has been given particular emphasis.
Source Publication
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences
Source Editors/Authors
James D. Wright
Publication Date
2015
Edition
2
Volume Number
1
Recommended Citation
Rubinfeld, Daniel L., "Antitrust Policy: Lessons from the US" (2015). Faculty Chapters. 1819.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/1819
