Brian Albrecht on the Consumer Welfare Standard

Reason – ICLE Chief Economist Brian Albrecht was cited in a story in Reason about the Biden administration’s attempts to shift the standards of antitrust law. You can read full piece here.

Consumer welfare should be the sole standard for antitrust law. Economist Brian Albrecht wrote in National Review last December about the shift from the “Government always wins” antitrust standard that was successfully pushed by progressives until abandoned in the late 1970s. An emphasis on tangible economic reasoning allowed a consistent framework to take shape, including “the elevation of consumer welfare as antitrust regulation’s fundamental concern.” Chair Khan is trying to turn back the clock to a standard that will again allow the FTC and DOJ to always win.