Originally from Antitrust and Competition Laws
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Chapter One - INTRODUCTION
Antitrust law or competition law has become a political issue in the U.S. for the first time in decades. There is increasing concern from various quarters about antitrust law’s ability to meet a number of economic, social and political concerns, particularly in today’s digital economy. Critics claim that antitrust law is no longer preventing anticompetitive conduct by dominant firms, particularly in big tech and platform markets, and that merger enforcement as well has failed to prevent transactions that raise prices, increase entry barriers or otherwise harm competition. Presidential candidates and other political leaders call for a broadening of U.S. antitrust law and enforcement beyond conventional competition notions like consumer welfare. Antitrust is enlisted as a weapon in campaigns against an assortment of perceived political and social ills such as wealth inequality, corruption of the political process, media bias and others.
Concerns about the effectiveness of competition law are not limited to the United States. There also is debate in Europe about the effectiveness of EU and member state competition laws to address dominant firm conduct and merger effects, again particularly in the digital world: many observers call for even tougher enforcement than already exists in Europe. And competition authorities, such as the German Bundeskartellamt, are actively applying competition law to promote broader policies addressing concerns over privacy and the use of big data.
Barry E. Hawk is former Director of the Fordham Competition (formally Corporate) Law Institute and former Partner with Skadden Arps (New York and Brussels). He is former Vice Chair of the ABA Antitrust Section and former Chair of the New York State Bar Association Antitrust Section, as well as Professor at Fordham Law School and Visiting Professor at Michigan Law School, Monash University Law School, New York University Law School and the University of Paris.