Download or read book Populism and Antitrust written by Maciej Bernatt and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-02-24 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Competition law is designed to promote a consumer-friendly economy, but for the law to work in practice, competition agencies - and the courts who oversee them - must enforce it effectively and impartially. Today, however, the rule of populist governments is challenging the foundations of competition law in unprecedented ways. In this comprehensive work, Maciej Bernatt analyses these challenges and describes how populist governments have influenced national and regional (EU) competition law systems. Using empirical findings from Poland and Hungary, Bernatt proposes a new theoretical framework that will allow the illiberal influence of populism on competition law systems to be better measured and understood. Populism and Antitrust will be of interest not only to antitrust and constitutional law scholars, but also to those concerned about the future of liberal democracy and free markets.
Download or read book Populism and Antitrust written by Maciej Bernatt and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-02-24 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Populism and Antitrust examines the influence of populism on competition law and shows how populism can lead to illiberal changes.
Download or read book Antitrust Populism written by Barak Orbach and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In antitrust literature, “populism” is associated with sympathy for small local businesses and fears of large firms. In other areas and everyday language, “populism” means a confrontational approach that is used to attack institutions and influential elites. With the rise of populism in the United States and around the world, this Article questions the antitrust tradition of equating populism with ideas that shaped antitrust law a century ago. The tradition shields contemporary antitrust populists from the criticism and stigma that they deserve and, thus, empowers populist ideas that courts and scholars frequently endorse. The Article makes three contributions to antitrust literature and the understanding of antitrust law. First, the Article clarifies the general characteristics of populism, contrasting the alleged cause of serving “the people” with the phenomenon's costly dogmatic, anti-intellectual, and destructive methods. It then defines “antitrust populism” as an expression of the populist style in antitrust law and literature--the use of thin ideas, exaggerations, and anxieties to advance antitrust theories. Properly understood, certain forms of antitrust populism rely on dogmatic beliefs that reject nuanced policies and the need for analysis. Second, the Article identifies anti-bigness and anti-enforcement sentiments as the two primary populist strains in antitrust law and literature. Each strain is related to a populist political movement, guided by distrust in institutions, decorated with various theories, and critical of the other strain. Third, the Article explores the relationship between technological progress and antitrust populism. It explains why rapid technological change tends to inspire antitrust populists. The Article argues that courts, the agencies, and scholars should make an effort to reject populist arguments for their anti-intellectual nature and other flaws.
Download or read book In Defense of Populism written by Donald T. Critchlow and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2020-11-27 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contrary to warnings about the dangers of populism, Donald F. Critchlow argues that grassroots activism is essential to party renewal within a democratic system. Grassroots activism, presenting a cacophony of voices calling for reform of various sorts without programmatic coherence, is often derided as populist and distrusted by both political parties and voters. But according to Donald T. Critchlow, grassroots movements are actually responsible for political party transformation, both Democratic and Republic, into instruments of reform that reflect the interests, concerns, and anxieties of the electorate. Contrary to popular discourse warning about the dangers of populism, Critchlow argues that grassroots activism is essential to party renewal within a democratic system. In Defense of Populism examines movements that influenced Republican, Democratic, and third-party politics—from the Progressives and their influence on Teddy Roosevelt, to New Dealers and FDR, to the civil rights, feminist, and environmental movements and their impact on the Democratic Party, to the Reagan Revolution and the Tea Party. In each case, Critchlow narrates representative biographies of activists, party leaders, and presidents to show how movements become viable calls for reform that get translated into policy positions. Social tensions and political polarization continue to be prevalent today. Increased social disorder and populist outcry are expected whenever political elites and distant bureaucratic government are challenged. In Defense of Populism shows how, as a result of grassroots activism and political-party reform, policy advances are made, a sense of national confidence is restored, and the belief that American democracy works in the midst of crisis is affirmed.
Download or read book The Curse of Bigness written by Tim Wu and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the man who coined the term "net neutrality" and who has made significant contributions to our understanding of antitrust policy and wireless communications, comes a call for tighter antitrust enforcement and an end to corporate bigness.
Download or read book Goliath written by Matt Stoller and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Every thinking American must read” (The Washington Book Review) this startling and “insightful” (The New York Times) look at how concentrated financial power and consumerism has transformed American politics, and business. Going back to our country’s founding, Americans once had a coherent and clear understanding of political tyranny, one crafted by Thomas Jefferson and updated for the industrial age by Louis Brandeis. A concentration of power—whether by government or banks—was understood as autocratic and dangerous to individual liberty and democracy. In the 1930s, people observed that the Great Depression was caused by financial concentration in the hands of a few whose misuse of their power induced a financial collapse. They drew on this tradition to craft the New Deal. In Goliath, Matt Stoller explains how authoritarianism and populism have returned to American politics for the first time in eighty years, as the outcome of the 2016 election shook our faith in democratic institutions. It has brought to the fore dangerous forces that many modern Americans never even knew existed. Today’s bitter recriminations and panic represent more than just fear of the future, they reflect a basic confusion about what is happening and the historical backstory that brought us to this moment. The true effects of populism, a shrinking middle class, and concentrated financial wealth are only just beginning to manifest themselves under the current administrations. The lessons of Stoller’s study will only grow more relevant as time passes. “An engaging call to arms,” (Kirkus Reviews) Stoller illustrates here in rich detail how we arrived at this tenuous moment, and the steps we must take to create a new democracy.
Download or read book Beyond Antitrust Populism written by Aurelien Portuese and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The populist use of competition policies is on the rise again, associated with the growth of big-tech companies in the era of digital platforms. This article sees antitrust populism as a re-emerging force in the United States and Europe via greater politicisation of competition law enforcement. It addresses the basic tenets of antitrust populism in order to expose the fundamental problems that populist use of competition law entails. I argue for a rethink of antitrust policy on the intellectual foundations laid down by what Mark Pennington describes as 'robust political economy'. We need greater regulatory humility and antitrust enforcement which takes both innovation and welfare seriously.
Download or read book Antitrust Policy written by John H. Shenefield and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Palgrave Handbook of Populism written by Michael Oswald and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-11-15 with total page 693 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook assesses the phenomenon of populism—a concept frequently belabored, but often misunderstood in politics. Rising populism presents one of the great challenges for liberal democracies, but despite the large body of research, the larger picture remains elusive. This volume seeks to understand the causes and workings of modern-day populism, and plumb the depths of the fears and frustrations of people who have forsaken established parties. Although the main focus of this volume is political science, there are more disciplines represented in order to get a whole picture of the debate. It is comprised of strong empirical and theoretical papers that also bear social relevance.
Download or read book The Evolving Populisms of Antitrust written by Sandeep Vaheesan and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some scholars divide the history of U.S. antitrust law into eras of “populism” and “economics” and assert a fundamental conflict between the two concepts. Generally, the period from the late 1970s to the present is described as economic, and the mid-twentieth century era is labeled populist. A review of Supreme Court antitrust decisions reveals a more complex picture. From the enactment of the Sherman Act in 1890, the Court's antitrust rulings have officially espoused the protection of non-elite groups from the power of big business - a populist goal - and aimed to advance this objective through economically informed rules. Populism versus economics is a false dichotomy. The populism and economics underlying antitrust jurisprudence have changed over time. In the decades following the passage of the Sherman Act, the Supreme Court often spoke of protecting small producers and displayed, at most, only secondary concern for consumers. The Court in the early era proscribed certain horizontal and vertical restraints but viewed many forms of dominant firm and horizontal conduct more favorably. Starting in the late 1930s, the Court assumed consumer protection as a principal aim of the antitrust laws but continued to champion the cause of small businesses as well. Antitrust economics took a skeptical posture toward many big business practices and treated many forms of horizontal and vertical conduct as inherently problematic. Since the 1970s, the Court has held that the antitrust laws exist only to protect consumers and also adopted the view that most forms of business conduct can benefit consumers. Although some scholars argue that antitrust law should seek to maximize “economic efficiency” and ignore distributional consequences, the courts should continue to interpret the antitrust laws as a consumer protection regime. First and foremost, Congress, as revealed in the legislative histories of the antitrust laws, showed an interest in preventing large firms from using their market power to raise prices and transfer wealth from consumers. The Congressmen that drafted the antitrust statutes showed no awareness of the neoclassical concept of efficiency, let alone an intention to promote it. Second, consumer-oriented antitrust enforcement, in respecting Congressional intent, can prevent regressive wealth transfers from consumers to producers and play an important part in containing growing economic inequality. Third, in light of how consumers often cannot organize politically on account of their vast numbers, the federal courts can serve as trustees for this group and protect its interests from better-organized producer groups. Last, just as antitrust can help consumers, consumers can provide vital popular support for antitrust enforcement.
Download or read book Populist Antitrust and the 1927 Radio Act written by Babette Boliek and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In policy circles of Washington, DC, in academia, and among advocates and lobbyists, there has been growing attention to the role of antitrust enforcement versus regulation in today's economy. Various populist arguments seek an expanded role for antitrust law, as proponents seek to control the perceived political and free speech dangers associated with market concentration. These new populists are particularly interested in large, content-laden companies such as Google, Facebook, and broadcast and cable firms. Strong interest in content companies is, of course, not new. This essay explores different political, economic, and philosophical regimes at play when the United States chose to enact the Radio Act of 1927 and regulate, rather than leave to antitrust controls, the emerging radio industry. By examining antitrust at the dawn of the Radio Act of 1927, there are lessons to be learned for the political treatment of today's social media, broadcast, cable, and telecommunications industry. In particular the story of the Radio Act of 1927 highlights two historically recurring political themes: (1) a longstanding, near-universal political goal to control content and (2) the tension between selecting an ex post antitrust enforcement regime versus an ex ante regulatory regime to control economic concentration and power. It is this second theme that is primarily explored here. Aside from a desire to control content, why in 1927 was regulation of radio preferred over antitrust? Moreover, do the original reasons compel extending regulation to nascent content-laden industries today?
Download or read book Antitrust in a Time of Populism written by Carl Shapiro and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This article discusses how to move antitrust enforcement forward in a constructive manner during a time of widespread and growing concern over the political and economic power of large corporations in the United States. Three themes are emphasized. First, a body of economic evidence supports more vigorous merger enforcement in the United States. This can and should be done in a manner consistent with sound economic principles. Tighter merger control can be achieved by utilizing the existing legal presumption against highly concentrating mergers and by reinvigorating the potential competition doctrine to block mergers between firms that may well become important direct rivals in the foreseeable future. Second, close antitrust scrutiny is appropriate for today's largest and most powerful firms, including those in the tech sector. However, the coherence and integrity of antitrust require that successful firms not be attacked simply because they obtain dominant positions. Proper antitrust enforcement regarding unilateral conduct by dominant firms should continue to focus on identifying specific conduct that harms customers or disrupts the competitive process, especially conduct that excludes pesky, disruptive rivals. Third, while antitrust enforcement has a vital role to play in keeping markets competitive, antitrust law and antitrust institutions are ill suited to directly address concerns associated with the political power of large corporations or other public policy goals such as income inequality or job creation. Campaign finance reform, tax policy, labor, education, and other policies are far better suited to address those critical public policy goals.
Download or read book Does Antitrust Need to be Modernized written by Dennis W. Carlton and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Populism and Antitrust A Review Essay on the Recent Book by Maciej Bernatt written by Arndt Christiansen and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Populism and Antitrust deals with a topic which unfortunately has become very topical. That is the influence of populism on competition law and policy. Maciej Bernatt refers mainly to the developments in Hungary after the formation of the Fidesz government in 2010 and in Poland after the formation of the Law and Justice or PiS government in 2015, respectively. He does, however, go well beyond country-specific experiences and sets out a theoretical framework for the measurement and understanding of the influence of populism on competition law systems. Against this background the book can be highly recommended to anyone interested in the development of competition law in Hungary and Poland but also in the European Union on the whole. Moreover, it offers wothwhile reading to anyone interested in the "rule of law backsliding“ in the said countries, in the wider implications thereof and last not least the possibilities of containing or even reversing it.
Download or read book Populism and Patronage written by Paul D. Kenny and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Populist rule is bad for democracy, yet in country after country, populists are being voted into office. Populism and Patronage shows that the populists such as Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi win elections when the institutionalized ties between non-populist parties and voters decay. Yet, the explanations for this decay differ across different types of party system. Populism and Patronage focuses on the particular vulnerability of patronage-based party systems to populism. Patronage-based systems are ones in which parties depend on the distribution of patronage through a network of brokers to mobilize voters. Drawing on principal agent theory and social network theory, this book argues that an increase in broker autonomy weakens the ties between patronage parties and voters, making latter available for direct mobilization by populists. Decentralization is thus a major factor behind populist success in patronage democracies. The volume argues that populists exploit the breakdown in national patronage networks by connecting directly with the people through the media and mass rallies, avoiding or minimizing the use of deeply-institutionalized party structures.This book not only reinterprets the recurrent appeal of populism in India, but also offers a more general theory of populist electoral support that is tested using qualitative and quantitative data on cases from across Asia and around the world, including Indonesia, Japan, Venezuela, and Peru.
Download or read book Mergers Merger Control and Remedies written by John Kwoka and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive analysis of merger outcomes based on all empirical studies, with an assessment of the effectiveness of antitrust policy toward mergers. In recent decades, antitrust investigations and cases targeting mergers—including those involving Google, Ticketmaster, and much of the domestic airline industry—have reshaped industries and changed business practices profoundly. And yet there has been a relative dearth of detailed evaluations of the effects of mergers and the effectiveness of merger policy. In this book, John Kwoka, a noted authority on industrial organization, examines all reliable empirical studies of the effect of specific mergers and develops entirely new information about the policies and remedies of antitrust agencies regarding these mergers. Combined with data on outcomes, this policy information enables analysis of, and creates new insights into, mergers, merger policies, and the effectiveness of remedies in preventing anticompetitive outcomes. After an overview of mergers, merger policy, and a common approach to merger analysis, Kwoka offers a detailed analysis of the studied mergers, relevant policies, and chosen remedies. Kwoka finds, first and foremost, that most of the studied mergers resulted in competitive harm, usually in the form of higher product prices but also with respect to various non-price outcomes. Other important findings include the fact that joint ventures and code sharing arrangements do not result in such harm and that policies intended to remedy mergers—especially conduct remedies—are not generally effective in restraining price increases. The book's uniquely comprehensive analysis advances our understanding of merger decisions and policies, suggests policy improvements for competition agencies and remedies, and points the way to future research.
Download or read book Populism and Trade written by Kent Jones and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-23 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Around the world, populism has weaponized anxieties over globalization and other forms of cultural, social, and economic change. Many populist leaders have succeeded in conflating trade concerns with apprehensions over immigration, thereby creating potent campaigns to overturn existing trade agreements and the multilateral cooperation they embody. In the United States, avowed protectionist Donald Trump set out not only to raise tariffs, but to dismantle the system of global trade embodied in the World Trade Organization. In the UK, the Brexit referendum resulted in that country's withdrawal from the European Union, ending its commitment to trade integration with the continent. Populism and Trade explores the impact of populist regimes on protectionism and the damage they have inflicted on global trade and trade policy institutions. Focusing on the disruption caused by the Trump administration and the Brexit referendum, the book traces the influence of populism on trade policy today. Kent Jones shows how these methods will continue to damage global cooperation--something that is essential when faced with international crises like a deadly pandemic--until the sources of populist anger can be addressed. He argues that economic and institutional reforms, along with better education and adjustment policies, will be necessary to break the populist fever. In an age of global populism, open trade policy has become a victim of anti-globalization and economic nationalism. Populism and Trade traces the impact of these divisive political tactics to explain the fragile nature of global trade institutions and the steps needed to save them.
