Antitrust Policy

Finally is the allowance of these monopolies to rise in the first place. Since there were no regulatory agencies back in the second industrial revolution, big businessmen with the idea of trimming fat in their companies could conquer any competitor by using hardball tactics of purposely

Monopolies are quite dangerous economically, and are usually broken up by the federal government, with only two exceptions- electricity, and gas. These are modern examples. A monopoly is the economic term for when a company that makes a product has no competition, and can raise the prices as high as they want. For example, the most obvious and powerful monopoly of the industrial revolution was the railroad monopoly. They made money quite quickly as a shipping company, and destroyed any and all competition as the only transcontinental railroad at the time. It’s leader, Cornelius Vanderbilt came to be considered one of the most powerful people of all time, due to his control over who he shipped for.

Many utilities are monopolies by having the entire market share in certain areas. With deregulation of these utilities, the market becomes open to competition for market share to begin. In terms of regulation of monopoly, the government attempts to prevent operations that are against the public interest, call anti-competitive practices. Likewise, oligopoly is a market condition where there are minimal distributors that have a major influence on prices and other market factors. This causes market failure, especially if evidence of collusive behavior by dominant businesses is found.

The antitrust laws are the basis of this national policy. These laws, enforced by both the federal and state governments, require companies to compete in the marketplace. The Sherman Act, the first federal "antitrust law," was enacted in 1890, at a time when there was enormous concern about "trusts" -- combinations of companies that were able to control entire industries. Since then, other laws have been enacted to supplement the Sherman Act, including the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Act (1914). With some revisions, these laws still are in effect today. They have the same basic objective: making sure there are strong economic incentives for businesses to operate efficiently, keep prices down, and keep quality up.

The first antitrust law passed by Congress was the Sherman Act, in 1890. In 1914, Congress passed two other antitrust laws: The Federal Trade Commission Act, which created the Federal Trade Commission, and the Clayton Act. With some revisions, these are the most important federal antitrust laws still in effect today. Section 7 of the Clayton Act prohibits mergers and acquisitions when the effect "may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly." (ftc.gov) The antitrust laws proscribe unlawful mergers and business practices in general terms, leaving courts to decide which ones are illegal based on the facts of each case. For over 100 years, the antitrust laws have had the same basic objective: to protect the process of competition for the benefit of consumers, making sure there are strong incentives for businesses to operate efficiently, keep prices down, and keep quality up. The enforcement authorities of the federal antitrust laws are The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division (ftc.gov).

Antitrust laws are meant to protect competition in markets. They try to ensure that all individuals have an “equally opportunity in honest competition.” Early in the nation’s history, there was widespread fear of the dangers of monopolies and other restrictions on competition. In 1890, Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act to prevent limits on competition caused by private parties. Thus the main goal of antitrust law is to preserve “economic freedom” and a “free-enterprise system.” Specifically, it attempts to preserve “the freedom to compete” for businesses. In a practical sense, antitrust laws are seeking to prevent burdens on competition in the marketplace.

The role of antitrust laws has been the subject of numerous publications that have attempted to provide a precise set of reasons and inspirations for their creation. However, there are still many schools of thought on the subject and much debate over the effectiveness and legitimate implementation of these laws. This paper analyzes the three main antitrust laws that the federal branch of the United States government uses to try to restrict monopolies. This paper also looks at antitrust laws in the modern business environment, and attempts to relay the information in a manner that a newcomer to the subject will understand the concept as it relates to modern technology and business practices. The findings of this paper indicate that the topic of antitrust laws is more complex than many believe and, depending on the position of the person affected by monopolies, the sentiment ranges widely.

One law, which helps protect businesses and promotes fair competition for the benefit of the consumers, is the US Anti-Trust law. This law is comprised of three different acts: The Sherman Act 1890, the Clayton Act 1914 and the Federal Trade Commission Act 1914. The first role these acts perform is to restrict the formation of cartels which would perform outside of the guidelines of the government and there for not be bound by there laws. The second role these acts perform is to ensure no single business entity can perform a certain level of mergers and acquisitions, which would essentially turn them into a monopoly and reduce competition. Overall, the antitrust laws are constantly debated for their overall functionality and efficiency in protecting the fair business practices of the United States. [2] “One view, mostly closely associated with the "Chicago School of economics" suggests that antitrust laws should focus solely on the benefits to consumers and overall efficiency, while a broad range of

Collectively there are four major pieces of legislation that make us the Antitrust Laws: The Sherman Act of 1890, the Clayton Act of 1914, the Federal Trade Commission act of 1914 and the Celler- Kefauver Act of 1950. The purpose of these acts and laws is to regulate trade and commerce by preventing unlawful restrictions, price fixing and monopolies; their goal is to promote competition and to encourage the production of quality goods and services at reasonable prices while safeguarding the public welfare, while ensuring consumer demand is met via the production and sale of those goods at reasonably low prices. Enforcement of the antitrust laws depends largely on two agencies: the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Antitrust Division

There are three core federal antitrust laws in effect today in our US legal system. They are the Sherman Act, The Federal Trade Commission Act, and the Clayton Act

Antitrust laws are classical examples of adapting tendencies of government to the changing times. The history of competition act, 2002 is a good example of the proverb that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, enacted in the era of restrictive economy found itself to be obsolete and redundant with the opening of Economy in 1991, was vacuum was filled by passage of Competition Act, 2002. Cartels are prohibited by most countries in most of the countries, whether they are domestic or foreign firms. Over the years, international cartels, which comprise firms more than in one country were considered to be illegal,

The antitrust policy or the anti-monopoly policy was created to prevent monopolization—which occurs in a market structure in which there is only a single seller of a good, service, or resource. In the antitrust law, a monopoly, is a dominant firm that accounts for a high percentage of sales in a given market (739). Furthermore, the antitrust policy promotes fair competition in a market, and allocative efficiency—which occurs when production meets the consumers taste and preferences, in a particular good, to which marginal cost and the price or marginal benefit are equal.

They helped bring change food-inspections laws were passed antitrust laws were enforced reforming mayors were elected to office. They wrote about city bosses and told how dishonest they were and they cheated citizens of their rights and money. They wrote about the injustice, unfairness, and

, The Chicago School of Antitrust Analysis, 1979). After the public publication of Robert Bork’s book “The Antitrust Paradox” (1978), the public policy behind antitrust law, including the rule against price fixing, has been seen and written through a utilitarian approach almost excluding jealously any other approach to analyze and understand it. The main argument, is that by analyzing antitrust law through the lenses of economic science it (United States Senate,

What is a monopoly? According to Webster's dictionary, a monopoly is "the exclusive control of a commodity or service in a given market.” Such power in the hands of a few is harmful to the public and individuals because it minimizes, if not eliminates normal competition in a given market and creates undesirable price controls. This, in turn, undermines individual enterprise and causes markets to crumble. In this paper, we will present several aspects of monopolies, including unfair competition, price control, and horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate mergers.