Antitrust Economics on Trial: A Dialogue on the New Laissez-Faire

by Walter Adams and James W. Brock

Book Overview

Is it the central purpose of American antitrust policy to encourage decentralization of economic power? Or is it to promote "consumer welfare"? Is there a painful trade-off between market dominance and economic "efficiency"? What is the proper role of government in this area? In recent years the public policy debate on these core questions has been marked by a cacophony of divergent opinions--theorists against empiricists, apostles of the "new...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691602077
• ISBN13: 9780691602073
• Release Date: July 2014
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 148 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Much better than expected

After reading the back cover and introduction of this book, I expected a rather harsh portrayal of neoclassical economics. This book does not end up being too crtical of the Chicago school. Of course there are a number of strawmen in this book, portions where the expert is portrayed as an out of touch academic oblivious to the effects of his theories. Perhaps my greatest criticism of this book is that it does not adequately exlore the "sovereign's charter" - the government maintained monopolies. The authors refer to the concentration in the airline industry without really considering the effects of regulation that excluded foreign airlines from domestic routes. In addition, the authors do not seem to commit enough attention to the availability of substitutes for virtually any commodity or service. Even if the major airlines offer fewer flights from a particular airport in the long run smaller air lines will establish routes. If not, there are alternatives like high speed rail. At the exteremes, one could consider technological advances like teleconferencing and electronic data exchange reduce the need for certain forms of business flights. Overall, however, the book only takes a few hours to read and introduces the major debates of this subject.

Interesting, open-ended

This is the same topic the authors have tackled in their other books, this time presented in a somewhat screenplay-ish format. Once again it is an argument between theory and evidence. As you read the discussion between the lawyer and the economist you wonder why the economist always retreats to theory in the face of evidence. It would interesting to hear a Chicago economist's explanation of the facts Adams and Brock bring to bear.