The Antitrust Paradox
Book by Robert BorkWikipedia
5
MENTIONS
3
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3
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Search complete. 5 mentions across 3 episodes found for "The Antitrust Paradox".
Oct 8, 2026
Jack NicastroGUEST
... uh, with their, their theoretical approach to antitrust, particularly a- how they view the economics at play.
Jack NicastroGUEST
So in, in Commissioner Meador's Antitrust Policy for the Conservative, uh, which I recommend everybody read, um, he focuses a- on how antitrust should be concerned not, not with the consumer welfare standard, which, truth be told, may be more accurately referred to as the total surplus or productive efficiency standard, um, if you actually read how Robert Bork characterizes it, uh, in formal terms and econo- you know, the microeconomics behind it, um, in The Antitrust Paradox.
Jack NicastroGUEST
And, and Commissioner Meador i- instead prefers trading partner surplus, uh, which is closer to consumer surplus.
Jack NicastroGUEST
Um, and that is a much narrower, um, measure that is, is much more static.
Eric RosenfieldHOST
And as this campaign moved on, rather than understanding that monopolies represented something dysfunctional at the heart of their economic system, the reassertion of laissez-faire economics that would come to be known as neoliberalism would assert that monopolies weren't really much of a problem at all.
Eric RosenfieldHOST
1970s US Solicitor General Robert Bork authored a book called The Antitrust Paradox, 1978, in which he proposed that monopolies could actually create beneficial efficiencies.
Eric RosenfieldHOST
As long as the prices stayed low and therefore benefited consumers, that demonstrated that the monopoly only existed because the monopolist was good at their job, and in fact, forcing competition would allow for all sorts of ruinous inefficiencies.
Eric RosenfieldHOST
What did it matter if Walmart reduced workers to poverty and destroyed local communities? The prices were still low, weren't they? And so armed with this Bork doctrine, Reagan and his collaborators began laying waste to antitrust law and consolidations ran wild.
Rebecca Haw AllensworthHOST
...
Rebecca Haw AllensworthHOST
Antitrust Paradox with a author, author photo, one of the best author photos, I think, that there is.
John NewmanGUEST
Ooh.
John NewmanGUEST
Is that the old edition? That's the classic.
Rebecca Haw AllensworthHOST
This is a first edition.
John NewmanGUEST
Wow.
Rebecca Haw AllensworthHOST
This is my first edition copy of The Antitrust Paradox.
John NewmanGUEST
Look at you.