Understanding Antitrust

The internet's growth has been accompanied by the creation of a large number of new companies, including Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Uber, and many others. These global enterprises sometimes seem to have a dominant, perhaps unassailable, competitive position in their markets. This supposed dominance has caused some to argue for tougher antitrust enforcement.

But a careful review of the special nature of these companies shows that current antitrust principles remain capable of dealing with most threats to competition. In those cases where antitrust is likely to be ineffective, other policies are capable of dealing with any problems. Moreover, most problems that critics point to are often exaggerated, undercutting the call for stricter antitrust enforcement.