Antitrust Policy Design

A robust examination of the history and current state of US antitrust policy, including the growing role of internet commerce.

Antitrust regulations are historical and political as much as legal or economic. In Antitrust Policy Design, Herbert Hovenkamp engages the central antitrust issue today: the growing role of internet commerce. Protection of consumers and labor interests, says Hovenkamp, have always been the paramount concern of antitrust legislation. He examines the structure of antitrust policy, underlining that current antitrust policy makes no distinctions between online and offline trade. We are best served, he says, by policies that favor consumers and suppliers, including suppliers of labor, and unrestrained innovation. He makes clear policy recommendations, especially in the area of remedies.

Hovenkamp begins with the original understandings of the antitrust statutes, followed by a brief account of the various “schools” of antitrust thought that reflect changing commitments to markets, free enterprise, and economic growth. He examines the most significant deviations from these ideas, then explores the metrics that antitrust policy makers use to evaluate particular practices, including its use of economics. Finally, he evaluates antitrust policy toward dominant firms, remedies, mergers involving complementary products, and anticompetitive agreements.