Requiem for a Paradox: The Dubious Rise and Inevitable Fall of Hipster Antitrust

Abstract

For antitrust practitioners, scholars, and economists—those who work with antitrust in agencies, courts, or law firms—the development of the antitrust laws over the past half century has been a remarkable and positive development for the American economy and consumers. Over the last fifty years, antitrust has developed into a coherent, principled, and workable body of law that contributes positively not only to American competitiveness and societal well-being, but also helps to export the culture of market competition around the world. Although a healthy diversity of views governs the intellectual landscape in antitrust, and there is no shortage of ideas on how to improve its performance around the margins and within the paradigm of existing doctrine, there is consensus that modern antitrust laws have the core concepts right. Most fundamentally, there is agreement that the goal of protecting consumer welfare is and should be the lodestar of modern antitrust enforcement