Market Power and Inequality: The Antitrust Counterrevolution and Its Discontents
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Market Power and Inequality: The Antitrust
Counterrevolution and Its Discontents
Lina Khan* and Sandeep Vaheesan**
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, economic inequality has become a central topic of pub-
lic debate in the United States and much of the developed world. The popu-
larity of Thomas Piketty's nearly 700-page tome, Capital in the Twenty-First
Century, is a testament to this newfound focus on economic disparity.' As
top intellectuals, politicians, and public figures have come to recognize ine-
quality as a major problem that must be addressed, they have offered a range
of potential solutions. Frequently mentioned proposals include reforming the
tax system, strengthening organized labor, revising international trade and
investment agreements, and reducing the size of the financial sector.2
One underexplored theme in this larger debate is the role of monopoly
and oligopoly power.3 Given the current distribution of business ownership
assets in the United States, market power can be a powerful mechanism for
transferring wealth from the many among the working and middle classes to
* Fellow, Open Markets Program, New America; Yale Law School, J.D., expected 2017;
Williams College, B.A., 2010.
** Regulations Counsel, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This article reflects the
views of the authors alone and not necessarily those of New America, the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau, or the United States. For thoughtful feedback on earlier drafts of the article,
we are deeply grateful to Ken Davidson, Ben Douglas, Bert Foer, Barry C. Lynn, Michael
Oswalt, Frank Pasquale, and Marshall Steinbaum.
'THOMAS PIKETrY, CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY (2013). Piketty and his pub-
lisher expected that twenty thousand copies of his book would be sold-instead more than two
million copies were sold around the world. See J. Bradford DeLong, The Melting Away of
North Atlantic Social Democracy, TALKING POINTS MEMO (Feb. 21, 2016), http://talkingpoint-
smemo.com/features/marchtoinequality/fourmeltingsocialdemocracy/ [https://perma.cc/
MSV5-DWK7].
2 See generally ANTHONY B. ATKINSON, INEQUALITY: WHAT CAN BE DONE? (2015).
A few commentators have drawn attention to this connection. See, e.g., Jonathan B.
Baker & Steven C. Salop, Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Inequality, 104 GEO. L.J. 1,
10-13 (2015); David Dayen, The Most Important 2016 Issue You Don't Know About, NEW
REPUBLIC (Mar. 11, 2016), https://newrepublic.com/article/l 31412/important-2016-issue-dont-
know [https://perma.cc/DN43-E3FK]; Paul Krugman, Robber Baron Recessions, N.Y. TIMES
(Apr. 18, 2016), http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/opinion/robber-baron-recessions.html?
_r=0 [https://perma.cc/AMU4-Y9UT]. More recently, a series of reports from the White
House have also acknowledged the potential connection between a decline in competitive mar-
kets and a rise in economic inequality. See, e.g., THE WHITE HoUSE, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC
ADVISERS ISSUE BRIEF, LABOR MARKET MONOPSONY: TRENDS, CONSEQUENCES, AND POLICY
RESPONSES (2016). Additionally, Senator Elizabeth Warren has observed that rising consolida-
tion contributes to inequality. Elizabeth Warren, Senator of Massachusetts, Keynote Remarks
at New America's Open Market Program Event: Reigniting Competition in the American
Economy (June 29, 2016) (Concentration is not the only reason for rising economic insecu-
rity, but it is one of them.) (transcript available at http://washingtonmonthly.com/2016/06/30/
elizabeth-warrens-consolidation-speech-could-change-the-election/ [https://perma.cc/TAW8-
F2PQ]).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/harlpolrv11&div=11&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Market Power and Inequality: The Antitrust Counterrevolution and Its Discontents
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