Antitrust

Antitrust law exists to prevent concentrations of market power that harm consumers, workers, and the broader economy. The core economic intuition is simple: competitive markets allocate resources efficiently; monopolies don't. But measuring market power and predicting the effects of mergers and acquisitions is far more complicated.

For decades after the 1970s, US antitrust enforcement was shaped by the Chicago School's consumer welfare standard — essentially, only block mergers that raise consumer prices. This framework missed harms to workers, to potential competitors (especially in tech platform markets), and to long-run innovation incentives.

A new wave of antitrust thinking, sometimes called the "New Brandeis" movement, argues for broader enforcement that considers market structure, worker power, and the concentration of economic and political influence. Whether courts will adopt this view remains an active legal and economic debate.