The Antitrust Revolution: A Microcosm of the Antitrust Enterprise

• Published date: 01 December 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0003603X20950169
• Date: 01 December 2020

Article
The Antitrust Bulletin
2020, Vol. 65(4) 515–522
The Antitrust Revolution:
ª The Author(s) 2020
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A Microcosm of the Antitrust
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DOI: 10.1177/0003603X20950169
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Diana L. Moss*
Abstract
The Antitrust Revolution remains the only comprehensive framework for understanding major devel-
opments in antitrust through the economic case study device. In putting the debate over the role of
economics in modern antitrust at center stage, The Antitrust Revolution identifies the broader themes
that have emerged in antitrust enforcement over the last four decades. This article explores The
Antitrust Revolution as a “microcosm” of antitrust, and valuable pedagogical tool, by unpacking the
coeditors’ approach to case selection across seven editions. The analysis highlights how The Antitrust
Revolution has, in retrospect, identified with remarkable accuracy the major developments and conflicts
in antitrust law and economics over a critical period of time in U.S. history.
Keywords
antitrust enforcement, economic analysis, merger control, anticompetitive agreements, exclusionary
conduct
I. Introduction
The thirtieth anniversary of The Antitrust Revolution marks the contribution of an enduring, valuable
antitrust resource for antitrust enforcers, practitioners, academics, and policy makers. Published ini-
tially in 1989 and most recently in 2019, the volume remains the only comprehensive framework for
understanding major developments in antitrust through the economic case study device. Over the
course of seven editions and forty years of cases, coeditors Professors Kwoka and White curate new
case studies and strategically revisit older ones. This approach has created a durable pedagogy built on
careful case selection and consistency in the case study framework across editions. The Antitrust
Revolution thus provides fertile ground for the systematic analysis of antitrust law and economics.
The Antitrust Revolution’s intrinsic approach works to highlight the revolutionary impact of micro-
economic theory, methods, and tools on a field governed fundamentally by legal doctrine and jur-
isprudence. In putting the debate over the role of economics in modern antitrust at center stage, The
Antitrust Revolution identifies the broader themes that have emerged in antitrust enforcement over the
* American Antitrust Institute, Washington, DC, USA
Corresponding Author:
Diana L. Moss, American Antitrust Institute, 1025 Connecticut Ave., NW STE 1000, Washington, DC 20036, USA.
Email: dmoss@antitrustinstitute.org

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The Antitrust Bulletin 65(4)
last four decades.1 This essay explores The Antitrust Revolution project as a microcosm of the broader
antitrust enterprise. The value of this contribution could be no more evident than in the current
moment, as the debate over declining competition, rising market concentration, and the role of past
enforcement continues to unfold.2
II. A Tumultuous Era in U.S. Antitrust History
The Antitrust Revolution spans seven editions over thirty years, each produced on a timely five-year
schedule. The editions include the studies of antitrust cases that reached an outcome between 1977 and
2017—a not insignificant proportion of the time the U.S. antitrust laws have been in effect. The case
studies include a mix of public and private enforcement actions, as well as matters that were subject to
review by sector regulators with statutory competition mandates.3 Some context that is relevant to the
modern antitrust era aids in a better understanding of the importance of The Antitrust Revolution.
First, the antitrust ideology that has dominated for the past forty years has left a difficult legacy for
competition, consumers, and workers. This is, namely, the ascendance of the Chicago School in the
1970s and 1980s and the entrenchment of conservative ideology in the enforcement agencies and
courts in the 1990s and 2000s.4 More recently, The Antitrust Revolution has revealed what could be an
inflection point in antitrust. This is driven by growing concerns over the growth of dominant firms and
oligopolies and mounting evidence of damage from a lax enforcement approach that has, on the whole,
given undue weight to claimed procompetitive effects of mergers and forms of anticompetitive con-
duct.5 More vigorous enforcement levels under the Obama administration were the first sign of a shift
toward more vigorous enforcement, but this momentum appears by any number of measures to have
slowed under the Trump administration’s antitrust agencies—the Department of Justice Antitrust
Division and Federal Trade Commission.6
Second, economics has revolutionized the field of antitrust. The ascendance of economic theory,
methods, and tools cannot be understated, particularly in the analytics surrounding market definition,
competitive effects, efficiencies, proof of collusion, and cartel overcharges. But it is important to note
1. For early discussion of the role of economics in antitrust, see, e.g., James V. DeLong, The Role, If Any, of Economic Analysis
in Antitrust Litigation, 12 SW. U. L. REV. 298 (1981).
2. See, e.g., Diana L. Moss, Merger Policy and Rising Concentration: An Active Agenda for Antitrust Enforcement, 33
ANTITRUST 68 (Fall 2018), citing various sources of literature. See, e.g., Exec. Order No. 13725, 81 Fed. Reg. 23,417
(Apr. 15, 2016); Council of Economic Advisers, Benefits of Competition and Indicators of Market Power, THE WHITE
HOUSE (Apr. 2016), https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/page/files/20160414_cea_competition_issue_brief.pdf;
Lawrence J. White & Jasper Yang, What Has Been Happening to Aggregate Concentration in the U.S. Economy in the
21st Century? 38 CONTEMP. ECON. POL’Y 483 (July 2020); James W. Brock, Economic Concentration and Economic Power:
John Flynn and a Quarter-Century of Mergers, 56 ANTITRUST BULL. 681 (2011); U.S. Dep’t Agric., Research Investments and
Market Structure in the Food Processing, Agricultural Input, and Biofuel Industries...