Tobin Holds Meeting on the Antimonopoly Tradition and American Democracy

On July 18th, the Tobin Project convened eleven historians, economists, and legal scholars for a meeting at the University of Michigan Law School on the role of the antimonopoly tradition in American democracy. Amid growing concern over the emergence of new monopolies and their implications for democracy, attendees considered potential avenues for research that could deepen public understanding of how antimonopoly law has shaped democratic outcomes throughout American history. Such research could help ground current debates in the historical record and contribute to more informed decision making and policy.

Scholars in attendance included:

- Kate Andrias, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Michigan
- Daniel Crane, Frederick Paul Furth Sr. Professor of Law at the University of Michigan
- Richard R. John, Professor of History and Communications at Columbia University
- Naomi R. Lamoreaux, Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics and Professor of History at Yale University
- William J. Novak, Charles F. and Edith J. Clyne Professor of Law at the University of Michigan
- K. Sabeel Rahman, Associate Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School and Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute; incoming President of Demos
- Laura Phillips Sawyer, Assistant Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School
- James T. Sparrow, Associate Professor in History and the College at the University of Chicago
- Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History at Stanford University
- Timothy Wu, Julius Silver Professor of Law, Science, and Technology at Columbia Law School
- Luigi Zingales, Robert C. McCormack Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, and Charles M. Harper Faculty Fellow at the University of Chicago

Meeting participants shared and workshopped research proposals on a range of potential inquiries, such as the role of antimonopoly law in broader progressive-era efforts to regulate corporations; the motivation for and effects of the decline of nineteenth century antimonopoly in popular politics; and the relationship between industrial concentration and the rise of fascism in the first half of the twentieth century. We look forward to exploring possible opportunities to encourage new work and convene additional discussions around this important topic.