A new anti-monopoly initiative opens today

In November 2019 we published a long article entitled If tax havens scare you, monopolies should too. And vice versa.

The article described how a small group of ideologues in Chicago from the 1970s popularised a harmful new story about monopolies and competition, which was so influential that it effectively de-fanged government protections and allowed a wave of corporate mergers and rising corporate power, first in the United States, then in Europe and beyond. We described the emergence in the past few years of a powerful new antimonopoly movement in the United States, wielding a vibrant new story that is now starting to overthrow the Chicago-school ideology of antitrust.

Unfortunately, this new story had not – and still has not – spread very far beyond the United States. Hopefully, this will soon start to change. This week, a new newsletter was launched, The Counterbalance, which notes:

“We first came together in late 2020 when Barry Lynn [a leading light of the new US antitrust movement] sent Michelle [Meagher, a competition lawyer} an article by Nick [Shaxson of TJN,] entitled “If tax havens scare you, monopolies should too. And vice versa,” calling for a new antimonopoly movement outside the United States. We recognised our shared interests, and began working together almost immediately.”

The Counterbalance is only a newsletter at this stage. The participants are setting up an organisation – The Balanced Economy Project – to tackle these enormous issues. It will have a global focus.

Now please read on – and if you like what you see, please subscribe.