5.4 — Antitrust III: The Hipsters — Class Content
Overview
Today we finish our examination of antitrust by looking at the latest debates in antitrust theory and practice, specifically the rise of the “Neo-Brandeisians” or (more pejoratively) “Hipster antitrust.” Much of the current discourse about potentially changing antitrust theory and practice revolve around platforms, or “two-sided markets” and the rise of big tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook/Meta. Several antitrust cases are outstanding against these firms, and there are political debates and proposed legislation regarding fundamental changes to antitrust law and enforcement.
Readings
Recommended Readings:
- Munger, 2022, “Giants Among Us: Do We Need a New Antitrust Paradigm?”
- EconTalk: “Michael Munger on Antitrust”
On Path Dependency/Network Economies
On Neo-Brandeisian Antitrust
- Khan, 2017, “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox”
- Wright, Dorsey, Rybnicek, and Klick, 2018, “Requiem for a Paradox: The Dubious Rise and Inevitable Fall of Hipster Antitrust”
- Elzinga and Webber, 2017, “Louis Brandeis and Contemporary Antitrust Enforcement”
- Khan, 2018, “The New Brandeis Movement: America’s Antimonopoly Debate”
On Specific Antitrust Cases/History
- WSJ (Apr 23, 2020): “Amazon Scooped Up Data From Its Own Sellers to Launch Competing Products”
- NPR Planet Money: “Antitrust 3: Big Tech”
- Capitalisn’t: “Antitrust Pt 2: The Populists”
- *Google: The New Vampire Squid? With Dina Srinivasan”
- NPR Planet Money: “Hey Google, Are You Too Big?”
- NPR Planet Money: “The Case Against Facebook”
- U.S. Department of Justice, 2020, “Justice Department Sues Monopolist Google For Violating Antitrust Laws”
- U.S. Department of Justice, 2023, “Justice Department Sues Google for Monopolizing Digital Advertising Technologies”
- Wikipedia: Epic Games v. Apple
- Wikipedia: Proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft
- CNBC, 2023: “Meta acquisition of Within reportedly approved by court in loss for FTC”
Slides
Below, you can find the slides in two formats. Clicking the image will bring you to the html version of the slides in a new tab. The lower button will allow you to download a PDF version of the slides.
You can type h to see a special list of viewing options, and type o for an outline view of all the slides.
I suggest printing the slides beforehand and using them to take additional notes in class (not everything is in the slides)!
