Competition (antitrust) policy

William F. Shughart

Chapter 22 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Public Choice, 2025, pp 152-158 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Competition policy, enforced in the United States both by the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission, sometimes coordinating closely with the European Commission, has experienced a resurgence in the past decade. This chapter brings public choice reasoning to bear in understanding the origins and administration of statutes aimed at restraining the market power of private enterprises thought to have acquired and exercised unlawful monopolies. I treat competition policy as just another form of economic regulation that is vulnerable to “capture” by special interest groups, acting collectively to influence case outcomes in ways that typically ignore the welfare of consumers.

Keywords: Market power; Competition policy; Interest groups; Bureaucratic incentives (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781802207743
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