The SCP Paradigm Revisited: What Structuralism Really Contributed to U.S. Antitrust

Patrice Bougette and Frédéric Marty
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Patrice Bougette: Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France
Frédéric Marty: CNRS, GREDEG, Université Côte d'Azur, France

No 2026-03, GREDEG Working Papers from Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France

Abstract: This article examines the Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm that dominated U.S. antitrust policy until the 1970s, before being displaced by the Chicago School and, from the 1980s onwards, by Post-Chicago analysis, i.e., modern industrial organization. Long portrayed as indifferent to firms' conduct and to economic efficiency, structuralism has been subject to a persistent "black legend." This contribution reassesses that critique by examining: (i) the evolution of structuralism between the 1940s and the 1970s; (ii) the influence of a deconcentrationist perspective embedded in a particular legal interpretation of U.S. antitrust rules; (iii) the implications of the digital economy for contemporary analyses of market structures; and (iv) the SCP paradigm's legacy in Neo-Brandeisian and conservative antitrust thought.

Keywords: Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm; Structuralism; U.S. antitrust; Chicago School; Post-Chicago industrial organization; Merger control; Digital markets; Neo-Brandeisian antitrust; Market structure; Structural remedies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L10 L12 L13 L41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29
Date: 2026-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com and nep-inv
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