TOTM

Antitrust Exemption Time Machine

I’ve been struck of late by the level of activity surrounding antitrust exemptions: health care, insurance, beer and wine wholesalers, retail merchants for the purpose of negotiate interchange fees, newspapers, agricultural cooperatives, and sports leagues.  Throw in the high-stakes games being played between rivals to influence the decision-making processes of competition agencies in the US and abroad (and of course, private suits in the US), and it would appear that the insights of public choice for understanding antitrust has never been more important.  Or maybe not.  Consider the following 1982 NY Times article I found discussing the major push for antitrust exemptions in the early 1980s.  There are, of course, earlier examples.  But this one struck me as having some interesting parallels with current times…

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