## Colophon date: title:: Antitrust’s Crossroads type:: [[literature-note]] tags:: url:: https://www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/ status:: [[bean]] ## Notes > The author argues that despite the emphasis placed on labels such as Chicago School1 and Neo-Brandeisian2 (or progressive) antitrust, efficiency, consumer welfare or “bigness,” the key choice is between continuity with a past of regulatory deference and separation of markets from societal needs on the one hand, or embracing antitrust’s role in making the economy more responsive to societal needs on the other. Framing disagreements in binary terms, as disagreements between schools or camps, risks obscuring the real opportunity offered by this moment: the opportunity to reinvent what markets are and will mean in the twenty-first century. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/C17M9iUeEe2fsUtmvengjw/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) - Annotation: Valid framing.> The Neo-Brandeisian movement, shepherded by thinkers and activists including Lina Khan, Timothy Wu and Zephyr Teachout, has revived antitrust enforcement against big tech companies. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/ZBcUTCUfEe2OsAPaG3NHeQ/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > Looking back, the story of the evolution to the present moment tends to be told in one of two primary ways: either from a neoclassical perspective, as a story of consumer welfare coupled with progressive mistakes rectified and now being repeated; or from a progressive perspective, as a natural return toward early progressive roots of fairness and antimonopoly enforcement. Adopting one of these narratives can clarify some aspects of current antitrust debates but risks confusing other aspects. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/gbHb4CUfEe2H1N-Tywm8Lg/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > The Real Choices Antitrust Regulators Face — [view in context](https://hyp.is/gqEDKCUfEe22GjuOM87urQ/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > The choice facing regulators is thus not simply whether to continue to follow the consumer welfare standard or move toward a method more similar to that adopted by European regulators. The task is instead to define the normative values that antitrust enforcement should pursue and a political agenda that includes collective sovereignty over (digital) economies. T — [view in context](https://hyp.is/rz3JICUfEe28GNO6RLm_kQ/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > Markets have long been seen as egalitarian vehicles for resource allocation (Anderson 2017) . What has changed during the current era is that markets now serve the political agenda of an elite, not the interests of the general public, while being represented as natural and democratizing tools. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/3_lqViUfEe2DCQttLUB7Dw/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > If too focused on maintaining or promoting decentralized marketplaces and individual consumer and entrepreneurial choices in political voids, Neo-Brandeisianism could, like its Chicago School predecessor, also fail to advance the interests of persons in the digital economy. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/-xlhGiUfEe2G-xeZq_sBhw/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > The first FTC antitrust complaint against Facebook,8 for example, requested a breakup remedy but defined harm to consumers in terms of individual choice on a pre-existing platform marketplace: the inability to make choices — [view in context](https://hyp.is/I2N6rCUgEe2L20PWEo7qcA/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > “the amount and nature of advertising, and the availability, quality, and variety of data protection privacy options for users.” — [view in context](https://hyp.is/I2303CUgEe2qNSNEjgMleg/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > illustrates that the departure from Chicago School neoliberalism (Mirowski and Plehwe 2015) will require many more years of experimentation and work — [view in context](https://hyp.is/KIs53iUgEe2l07-kzecrJg/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > t requires a deeper shift in the perception of markets and how market regulation, including antitrust institutions, operates as part of a broader democratic framework. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/UZRndCUgEe2H1cdplwoWLA/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > The shape of markets is a contingent political and collective choice (Kapczynski, Grewal and Britton-Purdy 2021). Recognizing that markets and political life are on a continuum and are not separable spheres requires more than moving away from the consumer welfare standard or bolder regulation of monopolies and mergers. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/UcTgICUgEe2DR5NB5KfODg/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > It requires seeing antitrust as a way to move toward more collective empowerment in areas of life currently dominated by a few private entities, such as tech giants. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/VS7ytCUgEe250GNYuIItMw/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > The real crossroads antitrust faces is not the one we tend to see: — [view in context](https://hyp.is/Yoy2niUgEe2S68_F5-sFAA/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > The primary battle is instead about institutional and democratic reconstruction: choosing regulatory frameworks that enable collective sovereignty over productive processes and avoid shielding production from democratic rule. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/ZZbfciUgEe2FTd_dV69_7Q/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > The author argues that despite the emphasis placed on labels such as Chicago School1 and Neo-Brandeisian2 (or progressive) antitrust, efficiency, consumer welfare or “bigness,” the key choice is between continuity with a past of regulatory deference and separation of markets from societal needs on the one hand, or embracing antitrust’s role in making the economy more responsive to societal needs on the other. Framing disagreements in binary terms, as disagreements between schools or camps, risks obscuring the real opportunity offered by this moment: the opportunity to reinvent what markets are and will mean in the twenty-first century. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/C17M9iUeEe2fsUtmvengjw/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) - Annotation: Valid framing.> The Neo-Brandeisian movement, shepherded by thinkers and activists including Lina Khan, Timothy Wu and Zephyr Teachout, has revived antitrust enforcement against big tech companies. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/ZBcUTCUfEe2OsAPaG3NHeQ/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > Looking back, the story of the evolution to the present moment tends to be told in one of two primary ways: either from a neoclassical perspective, as a story of consumer welfare coupled with progressive mistakes rectified and now being repeated; or from a progressive perspective, as a natural return toward early progressive roots of fairness and antimonopoly enforcement. Adopting one of these narratives can clarify some aspects of current antitrust debates but risks confusing other aspects. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/gbHb4CUfEe2H1N-Tywm8Lg/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > The Real Choices Antitrust Regulators Face — [view in context](https://hyp.is/gqEDKCUfEe22GjuOM87urQ/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > The choice facing regulators is thus not simply whether to continue to follow the consumer welfare standard or move toward a method more similar to that adopted by European regulators. The task is instead to define the normative values that antitrust enforcement should pursue and a political agenda that includes collective sovereignty over (digital) economies. T — [view in context](https://hyp.is/rz3JICUfEe28GNO6RLm_kQ/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > Markets have long been seen as egalitarian vehicles for resource allocation (Anderson 2017) . What has changed during the current era is that markets now serve the political agenda of an elite, not the interests of the general public, while being represented as natural and democratizing tools. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/3_lqViUfEe2DCQttLUB7Dw/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > If too focused on maintaining or promoting decentralized marketplaces and individual consumer and entrepreneurial choices in political voids, Neo-Brandeisianism could, like its Chicago School predecessor, also fail to advance the interests of persons in the digital economy. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/-xlhGiUfEe2G-xeZq_sBhw/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > The first FTC antitrust complaint against Facebook,8 for example, requested a breakup remedy but defined harm to consumers in terms of individual choice on a pre-existing platform marketplace: the inability to make choices — [view in context](https://hyp.is/I2N6rCUgEe2L20PWEo7qcA/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > “the amount and nature of advertising, and the availability, quality, and variety of data protection privacy options for users.” — [view in context](https://hyp.is/I2303CUgEe2qNSNEjgMleg/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > illustrates that the departure from Chicago School neoliberalism (Mirowski and Plehwe 2015) will require many more years of experimentation and work — [view in context](https://hyp.is/KIs53iUgEe2l07-kzecrJg/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > t requires a deeper shift in the perception of markets and how market regulation, including antitrust institutions, operates as part of a broader democratic framework. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/UZRndCUgEe2H1cdplwoWLA/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > The shape of markets is a contingent political and collective choice (Kapczynski, Grewal and Britton-Purdy 2021). Recognizing that markets and political life are on a continuum and are not separable spheres requires more than moving away from the consumer welfare standard or bolder regulation of monopolies and mergers. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/UcTgICUgEe2DR5NB5KfODg/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > It requires seeing antitrust as a way to move toward more collective empowerment in areas of life currently dominated by a few private entities, such as tech giants. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/VS7ytCUgEe250GNYuIItMw/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > The real crossroads antitrust faces is not the one we tend to see: — [view in context](https://hyp.is/Yoy2niUgEe2S68_F5-sFAA/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/) > The primary battle is instead about institutional and democratic reconstruction: choosing regulatory frameworks that enable collective sovereignty over productive processes and avoid shielding production from democratic rule. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/ZZbfciUgEe2FTd_dV69_7Q/www.cigionline.org/articles/antitrusts-crossroads/)