Why this game is different
Monopolies have changed, along with what the biggest companies are buying. Google and Facebook don’t charge consumers money for their most popular services but instead collect vast reams of data on their users that they then use to help target online advertising. Amazon charges low prices, sometimes below what the goods cost to manufacture, but boasts of its top-notch customer service.
And by the time new contestants make their way to the game board, they often find that the big players already occupy the most lucrative squares.
The companies’ approaches have made them among the wealthiest corporations on Earth, with market values exceeding many nations’ economies, as well as a stranglehold on the consumer data that drives much of modern-day commerce.
Who’s playing the game now
The Traditionalists: “IT AIN’T BROKE”
This school of post-1970s thought was once the young upstart on the antitrust scene. Today it’s the ruling establishment. And its main yardstick for measuring a company’s effect on the markets is whether consumers pay high prices.
This idea, known as the consumer welfare standard, was created by Robert Bork, the conservative D.C. Circuit judge best known for his unsuccessful Supreme Court nomination battle during the Reagan administration.
Under this standard, the government should block corporate mergers that would lead to higher prices. But it should bless business deals that aim to increase efficiency,…
