Book Reviews

• Date: 01 September 1986
• DOI: 10.1177/0003603X8603100309
• Author: Elinor H. Solomon
• Published date: 01 September 1986
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

The

Antitrust

Bulletin/Fall 1986

Power, Empire Building

and

Mergers

Stephen A. Rhoades

Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books (1983), 153 pp.

Mergers in Perspective

835

Yale Brozen

Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy

Research (1982), 88 pp.

Reviewed by Elinor H. Solomon, Department

of

Economics,

The George Washington University.

Stephen Rhoades' Power, Empire Building and Mergers, and

Yale

Brozen's Mergers in Perspective, present a lively and lucid con-

trast in their approach to much that dominates the antitrust

merger arena today. They highlight two divergent philosophies;

they look at some

of

the same major antitrust cases. Both touch

sensitive nerve centers and are good and important reading.

They identify acommon goal. Both authors seek above all to

preserve competitive capitalism. Both look primarily to market

forces to solve market failures. But practical solutions differ. For

Dr. Rhoades, any persistent market failure is to be remedied at

least in part through astrengthened body

of

antitrust law. In

contrast, market failure often results, Dr. Brozen believes, from

problems largely caused by regulators including overzealous anti-

trust prosecutors, and may be better corrected by deregulation

and a more sparing use of antitrust solutions.

I.

Power, Empire Building and Mergers employs a multifaceted

approach to merger and concentration questions. Dr. Rhoades'

economic, mathematical, and econometric credentials for under-

© 1986by Federal Legal Publications, Inc.