This article examines the role of antitrust in the causes and consequences of the crisis. If market turmoil and financial upheaval can shatter the groundwork of competitive markets that antitrust seeks to protect, the shockwaves are sure to be felt in the intellectual foundations of competition policy. Section 2 considers whether antitrust contributed to the financial crisis and briefly describes the pre-crisis role of competition policy on both sides of the Atlantic with regard to the transformations that the banking sector underwent in recent decades. Section 3 analyses the crisis response on the antitrust front. Of particular importance are the two areas where the bailouts tend to collide with antitrust: mergers and, in the European context, State aid. Section 4 then looks at the challenges that economic crises have placed on antitrust enforcers. It is submitted that as the crisis deepens and recovery fails to take hold, the risks to antitrust are far more dangerous and less visible today. Although overall, antitrust enforcement does not seem to be seriously weakened in the US and at the EU level, there are troubling signs that as the current sovereign debt crisis deepens, at least some Member States may want to put a lid on antitrust. A global economic slowdown will tend to make it easier for those claiming a less aggressive antitrust policy is necessary to foster growth. Section 5 concludes that the financial crisis may increase the bias toward accepting ever-larger bank mergers. After all, if an orderly takeover is needed, to whom will central banks look to? The recent crisis showed who the usual suspects are.

This casebook excels at communicating a sense of how antitrust law affects both business decisions and lawyerly practice. It addresses the initial difficulty that most students experience in understanding how the different statutes, doctrinal developments, and economic issues fit together to form a reasonably coherent picture. The authors achieve this by presenting a set of overview materials that provide a clear road map and useful perspectives. Although the text is sparing in its presentation of economic models, the authors have also integrated important economics into every part of the text. This casebook shows how a few simple models, as well as more general implications of social-science thinking, yield important insights and also wield much influence in antitrust jurisprudence. It includes use of clarifying visual-aid exhibits to help students better understand complex issues in law as well as economics.

Antitrust laws touch upon a wide range of conduct and business relationships in the delivery of health care services, and the issues that should be of concern to health care organizations are described. Health Care Antitrust provides practical overviews of the principal legal issues relating to health care antitrust, as well as a general understanding of antitrust analysis as applied to contractual relationships and business strategies that present antitrust risks in a managed care environment.

This book explores how the U.S. antitrust laws, especially the Sherman Antitrust Act, have affected the ways in which U.S. corporations can form alliances to compete in world markets. The editors start from the premise that current antitrust laws unwisely restrain innovation by inhibiting desirable pro-competitive communication and cooperation between firms. This results in an impediment to the performance of U.S. firms competing in industries experiencing rapid technological change. Not all of the contributors agree with the editors about the degree to which the antitrust laws do indeed inhibit U.S. industry. Thus, the book represents a variety of views on a topic of increasing importance. Contributors include Phillip Areeda, William J. Baumol, Ann I. Jones, Robert P. Merges, Richard R. Nelson, Janusz A. Ordover, Thomas M. Jorde, Richard Schmalensee, Lawrence A. Sullivan, David M. Teece, Oliver E. Williamson, and Judge Frank H. Easterbrook.

Officially over in 2009, the Great Recession is now generally acknowledged to be the most devastating global economic crisis since the Great Depression. As a result of the crisis, the United States lost more than 7.5 million jobs, and the unemployment rate doubled—peaking at more than 10 percent. The collapse of the housing market and subsequent equity market fluctuations delivered a one-two punch that destroyed trillions of dollars in personal wealth and made many Americans far less financially secure. Still reeling from these early shocks, the U.S. economy will undoubtedly take years to recover. Less clear, however, are the social effects of such economic hardship on a U.S. population accustomed to long periods of prosperity. How are Americans responding to these hard times? The Great Recession is the first authoritative assessment of how the aftershocks of the recession are affecting individuals and families, jobs, earnings and poverty, political and social attitudes, lifestyle and consumption practices, and charitable giving. Focused on individual-level effects rather than institutional causes, The Great Recession turns to leading experts to examine whether the economic aftermath caused by the recession is transforming how Americans live their lives, what they believe in, and the institutions they rely on. Contributors Michael Hout, Asaf Levanon, and Erin Cumberworth show how job loss during the recession—the worst since the 1980s—hit less-educated workers, men, immigrants, and factory and construction workers the hardest. Millions of lost industrial jobs are likely never to be recovered and where new jobs are appearing, they tend to be either high-skill positions or low-wage employment—offering few opportunities for the middle-class. Edward Wolff, Lindsay Owens, and Esra Burak examine the effects of the recession on housing and wealth for the very poor and the very rich. They find that while the richest Americans experienced the greatest absolute wealth loss, their resources enabled them to weather the crisis better than the young families, African Americans, and the middle class, who experienced the most disproportionate loss—including mortgage delinquencies, home foreclosures, and personal bankruptcies. Lane Kenworthy and Lindsay Owens ask whether this recession is producing enduring shifts in public opinion akin to those that followed the Great Depression. Surprisingly, they find no evidence of recession-induced attitude changes toward corporations, the government, perceptions of social justice, or policies aimed at aiding the poor. Similarly, Philip Morgan, Erin Cumberworth, and Christopher Wimer find no major recession effects on marriage, divorce, or cohabitation rates. They do find a decline in fertility rates, as well as increasing numbers of adult children returning home to the family nest—evidence that suggests deep pessimism about recovery. This protracted slump—marked by steep unemployment, profound destruction of wealth, and sluggish consumer activity—will likely continue for years to come, and more pronounced effects may surface down the road. The contributors note that, to date, this crisis has not yet generated broad shifts in lifestyle and attitudes. But by clarifying how the recession’s early impacts have—and have not—influenced our current economic and social landscape, The Great Recession establishes an important benchmark against which to measure future change.

The massive depression of the 1930's detonated the crisis between harsh reality and the vision of material abundance and economic security created by the American industrial order. Amid widespread poverty there was increasing concentration of economic power and loss of individual initiative. Professor Hawley traces the pattern of this conflict. He analyzes the National Recovery Administration, the sources and nature of the antitrust ideology, the rise of Keynesianism, the confusion within the Roosevelt Administration during the recession of 1937-38, and the government career of Thurman Arnold. Attention is given to the administrators of the New Deal and to the beliefs, pressures, and symbols that affected their policy decisions. How and why these ideas and pressures produced policies that were economically inconsistent yet politically workable is also explained. Originally published in 1966. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The most important book on antitrust ever written. It shows how antitrust suits adversely affect the consumer by encouraging a costly form of protection for inefficient and uncompetitive small businesses.