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Boudreaux, Donald J. --- "Antitrust and competition from a market-process perspective" [2017] ELECD 1579; in Zywicki, J. Todd; Boettke, J. Peter (eds), "Research Handbook on Austrian Law and Economics" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 278

Book Title: Research Handbook on Austrian Law and Economics

Editor(s): Zywicki, J. Todd; Boettke, J. Peter

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849801133

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: Antitrust and competition from a market-process perspective

Author(s): Boudreaux, Donald J.

Number of pages: 18

Abstract/Description:

Austrian economics identifies three reasons, any one of which invalidates antitrust as a mechanism for ensuring competition. The first is the political economy realization that antitrust cannot be administered without political cronyism, which will blunt its effectiveness. The second is the problem of knowledge; no antitrust judge or regulator can know all the relevant facts for rendering a decision that improves the operation of markets. Either of these is fatal to the arguments for antitrust. This chapter will focus on the third objection: antitrust is premised on a flawed, static model of competition. By not recognizing that competition is a dynamic process involving innovation, antitrust actually thwarts competition, achieving the opposite of its intended effect.