The Future of Antitrust Enforcement

• Author: Nolan Ezra Clark
• DOI: 10.1177/0003603X8603100207
• Published date: 01 June 1986
• Date: 01 June 1986
• Subject Matter: Article

The Antitrust Bulletin/Summer 1986

The future

of

antitrust enforcement

BY NOLAN EZRA CLARK*

401

Understanding the past is difficult; predicting the future may be

next to impossible. But since planning for the future seems

imperative, we frequently attempt to do so, acting on the as-

sumed continuity between present and future. Straight-line pro-

jections from the past are unreliable, however, because

of

the

possibility

of

discontinuities-such as revolutionary changes.

Fortunately, the possibility

of

revolutions does not totally thwart

predictability. Revolutions too are the handiwork

of

man. They

too develop from (and generally react against) the past and

present. Thus, even in the prospect

of

revolutionary change,

plausible predictions can often be made. But any predictions are

likely to be meaningless unless they proceed from an understand-

ing

of

the past.

Any prediction regarding the future

of

antitrust should start

from the legislative foundation upon which the entire house

of

antitrust has been constructed. There are three key antitrust

statutes: the Sherman Act' with two key provisions (section 2,

which prohibits monopolization and attempted monopolization,

and section 1, which prohibits combinations in restraint

of

trade,

•Deputy Assistant Director for Planning, Bureau of Competition,

Federal Trade Commission.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The opinions expressed in this articleare those

of

the

author and do not necessarily reflect the views

of

the Federal

Trade

Commission or individual commissioners.

15 U.S.C. §§ 1-8.

© 1986 by Federal Legal Publications. Inc.