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ANTITRUST and COMPETITION, HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED
Author(s) -
Dilorenzo Thomas J.,
High Jack C.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-7295.1988.tb01505.x
Subject(s) - rivalry , economics , competition (biology) , law and economics , neoclassical economics , microeconomics , ecology , biology
Although antitrust laws enjoy wide support among economists, there was almost no such support during the early years of the Sherman Act. One reason for this transformation is a change in the theory of competition. Until the 1920s most economists viewed competition as a dynamic, rivalrous process that would be stifled by antitrust laws. Once the perfect competition model–which largely ignores rivalry–was accepted, economists' opinions of antitrust grew more favorable. To the extent that antitrust interferes with rivalry and enterprise, the competitive model has very likely misdirected the profession, at least as far as antitrust policy is concerned.