Antitrust 2025
CPI Antitrust Journal, Vol. 2, December 2010
University of Tennessee Legal Studies Research Paper No. 135
12 Pages Posted: 19 Dec 2010 Last revised: 22 Jan 2011
Date Written: December 17, 2010
Abstract
Antitrust policy in the United States has roughly twenty to thirty year cycles. So if past cycles are reliable indicators of future ones, we are at (or approaching) a new antitrust policy cycle, with 2025 being the approximate midpoint.
Any new policy cycle will be defined by three fundamental questions: a. What is competition? b. What are the goals of competition law? c. What should be the legal standards to promote these goals?
Rather than predict the state of antitrust policy in 2025 (such as more or less cartel enforcement), this Essay maps two scenarios based on these three fundamental questions. This Essay first examines some of the prevailing assumptions underlying the current answers to these three questions. By altering these assumptions, this Essay next shows how antitrust policy can significantly change over the next 30 years.
Keywords: Behavioral Economics, Behavioral Antitrust, Competition Law, Mergers, Antitrust
JEL Classification: K21, L40, L44
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation