ZWeR 2023, 368
American Merger Enforcement: A Progress Report on The Biden’s Administration’s Agenda
This Article seeks to cast a critical but balanced eye on the record of the Biden administration’s antitrust agenda. Part II offers a brief history of United States antitrust policy to couch the administration’s philosophy in its appropriate historical context. Part III examines the economic evidence, both broadly and focusing on technology – an industry of intense focus for the current administration – as a case study to answer whether radical change is really necessary or whether the landscape is too complicated and the evidence too thin to insist on sweeping reform to competition law. Finally, Part IV surveys the actions taken thus far by the Biden administration. It details the administration’s current track record in court, looks to merger enforcement statistics for guidance, and canvasses the commentary around the FTC’s proposed HSR (Hart-Scott-Rodino) Rule change and the joint FTC and Department of Justice Draft Merger Guidelines.
Contents
- I. Introduction
- II. The American Antitrust Enforcement Continuum
- III. Extraordinary Claims Without Extraordinary Evidence: Debunking the Myths of the Anti-tech Antitrust Agenda
- 1. The Evidence Does Not Support The Claim That Antitrust Enforcement As A Whole Has Failed
- 2. Concentration
- 3. Profits
- 4. Dynamism
- 5. Antitrust Enforcement
- 6. There Is No Basis For The Claim That Antitrust Enforcement Has Failed With The Technology Companies
- 7. Dominance Is Neither Conclusive Nor Clear
- 8. The “Head’s I Win, Tails You Lose” Attack on Tech Firms’ Unprofitability or Profitability Is Incoherent And Non-Empirical
- 9. Tech Company Acquisitions are not Directly Probative of Anything and Have Pro- as Well as Anticompetitive Potential
- IV. The Jury Is Very Much Still out on Antitrust Enforcement Today
- 1. Merger Enforcement Rates and Substance
- 2. Court Track Record
- 3. Proposed HSR Change and Draft Merger Guidelines
- 4. Other Changes
- V. Conclusion
- *
- *)Partner at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, Washington, D.C.; previously served in senior positions at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission under two administrations, most recently as Director of the Bureau of Competition from 2017 – 2019
- **
- **)Associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, New York
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