What happened to the antitrust movement? This was the question asked by Richard Hofstadter in the mid-1960s. Antitrust, observed the historian, once was the subject of a progressive movement in the U.S. that stirred public agitation and imagination, despite few antitrust prosecutions. By the 1960s, there were many antitrust prosecutions (by both Democratic and Republican administrations), but without any antitrust movement. Fifty years later, the U.S. has neither an antitrust movement nor much enforcement. That needs to change.
The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of the U.S. Antitrust Movement
A short history.
December 15, 2017
Tim Evans for HBR
Summary.
Antitrust in the U.S. is now undergoing disruption. We may be witnessing the rise of the fifth cycle — namely a progressive, anti-monopoly, New Brandeis School. An emerging group of young scholars are inquiring whether we truly benefited from competition with little antitrust enforcement. The mounting evidence suggests no. To be clear, the anti-monopoly New Brandeis School does not suggest or promote unrestricted intervention or the jettisoning of economic analysis in antitrust enforcement. All agree that intervention should be measured to avoid chilling competition, innovation and investment. The question is one of degree. The hope is for an enforcement policy which is carefully designed, but not diluted.