Antitrust as a Multidisciplinary Field: Introduction and Overview of the Symposium

• DOI: 10.1177/0003603X1405900401
• Date: 01 December 2014
• Author: Gregory T. Gundlach
• Published date: 01 December 2014
• Subject Matter: Article

THE ANTITRUST BUL L E T I N :Vol. 59, N o. 4/Winte r 2014 :687

Antitrust as a

multidisciplinary field:

Introduction and overview

of the symposium

BYGREGORY T. GUNDL ACH*

The focus of antitrust is competition. For over a century, the mandate

of antitrust has been to evaluate aggressive commercial conduct and

then judge its purposes and effects to determine whether to permit or

forbid such conduct as procompetitive or anticompetitive. In this

capacity, like all law, antitrust has evolved over time, responding to

ne w in si gh ts a nd u nd er sta nd in g re ga rd in g co mp et it io n an d

comp eti tive c ond uct. T his s ympo siu m in the Antitrust Bulletin,

Antitrust as a Multidisciplinary Field, takes stock of this evolution by

focusing on new insights from economics and existing insights from

the business discip lines for shaping the i ntellectual founda tions of

antitrust.

© 2014by Federal Legal Publications, Inc.

* Distinguished Professor, University of North Florida; Director &

Senior Fellow, American Antitrust Institute.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The American Antitrust Institute is indebted to those who

participated in the symposium, which took place at the National Press Club in

Washington, DC, on June 11, 2013, each of the authors who contributed to this

special issue, and the audience who asked questions, provided additional information,

and sometimes elevated discourse on the topic.