Back To The Good—or Were They the Bad—Old Days of Antitrust? A Review Essay of Jonathan B. Baker’s The Antitrust Paradigm: Restoring a Competitive Economy

Abstract

This essay reviews Jonathan Baker’s important book, The Antitrust Paradigm: Restoring a Competitive Economy, to frame the debate over appropriate antitrust policy and enforcement. Baker argues that competition is inadequate in many US markets and that antitrust could and should be strengthened to restore competition and benefit consumers. Baker presents an unrelenting critique of what he believes is the University of Chicago’s harmful influence on what was once an effective antitrust policy. I compress Baker’s book into four issues that economists can debate and I offer an alternative view that is more supportive of the current state of industry competition, the efficacy of market forces, and the case for limited antitrust intervention. (JEL D22, K21, L11, L13, L40)