Connor Leydecker (Duke University) has posted A Different Curse: Improving the Antitrust Debate about 'Bigness' on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Over one hundred years ago, Louis Brandeis explained his views on antitrust law in an essay titled “A Curse of Bigness.” Now, a progressive movement, inspired by Brandeis and thus dubbed the “Neo-Brandeisians,” challenges the status quo in American antitrust law. Yet, the response from establishment antitrust scholars has been remarkably inhospitable. Unfortunately, the current debate about Bigness is thus “cursed” by closemindedness and unproductive criticism.
This Note’s purpose is not to assert that reform ideas are beyond reproach but to move the legal and policy debate into more productive territory. Part I outlines the current debate. Part II clarifies the often misunderstood or overlooked tenets of the Neo-Brandeisian movement of antitrust reform. Part III examines three common criticisms of the reform movement, describing each and then responding with why each is unproductive. Part IV advocates for a more substantive and legally focused debate over “Bigness” in antitrust. This Note closes with optimism by promoting examples of scholarship that seem to be heading in a more fruitful direction.
