The Progressive Case against Antimonopolism
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Description
Contemporary interest among American progressives in using antitrust law to address wealth inequality lacks a firm intellectual foundation. Indeed, both the original American progressives of a century ago and Thomas Piketty, whose work sparked contemporary interest in inequality, agree that inequality’s source is scarcity, rather than monopoly, and so inequality will persist even in perfectly competitive markets. The only real solution is taxation, not a potentially destructive campaign of breakup. Why, then, is antimonopolism so popular among American progressives today? There are two reasons. The first is American anti-statism, which has closed off tax policy as a viable political solution to inequality, forcing progressive scholars and activists to seek a second- or third-best workaround in antitrust policy. The second is the American press, which is actively promoting antimonopolism as a way of fighting back against Google and Facebook, two companies that have badly outcompeted the press for advertising dollars in recent years.
Publication Date
2025
Book Title
Toward an Inframarginal Revolution: Redistributing the Gains from Trade
Book Author/Editor
Ramsi A. Woodcock
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
City
Cambridge
ISBN
9781009306720
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009306720.003
Keywords
antitrust, tax, progressive movement, inequality, rents, wealth distribution, newspapers
Disciplines
Antitrust and Trade Regulation | Law | Tax Law
Recommended Citation
Woodcock, Ramsi A., "The Progressive Case against Antimonopolism" (2025). Law Faculty Books and Chapters. 63.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/lawfac_book/63
Notes
Woodcock, Ramsi A. “The Progressive Case against Antimonopolism” in Toward an Inframarginal Revolution: Redistributing the Gains from Trade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025.