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At Dauphine A 407 |
Antitrust, Transformation, and the Durability of Policy Change
The Biden administration is undertaking the most dramatic transformation of US competition policy since Ronald Reagan’s presidency began in 1981. The administration and its appointed leaders at the Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission have committed themselves to use existing policy instruments expansively and to gain new legislation to control large information services platforms and extend scrutiny of various business conduct. This paper assesses the likely durability of the administration’s policy reform efforts. It considers obstacles that stand in the path of effectuating basic change in a public policy domain and provides a tentative assessment of the Biden administration’s prospects for overcoming these obstacles.