Antimonopoly and American Democracy

Summary

Americans today worry about concentrated power in private industry to an extent not seen in generations. After an over 40 year absence, a political and public discourse increasingly concerned about the danger of monopoly beyond its impact on consumer goods has precipitated a resurgence of activism. Americans across the political spectrum, including prominent political figures from former President Donald Trump to Masachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, have sounded alarms about the overlarge power of business in shaping both public and private life.

While many of the technologies and industries that worry Americans are new, the concerns they’ve raised are not unprecedented, but part of a long and important American democratic tradition that began even before the Declaration of Independence. Antimonopoly and American Democracy is the first comprehensive scholarly survey of the dynamic relationship between democracy and concentrated economic power across American history. It offers a deeper understanding of the issues and a broader set of tools to address concerns about economic concentration than any other scholarly resource. The important historical and legal context provided by this volume can inform and enlighten contemporary action toward protecting and strengthening self-governance and economic well-being for the American people. 

Contents

PART ONE: THE LONG HISTORY OF ANTIMONOPOLY AND AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 

I. “Introduction” 

Daniel A. Crane, Frederick Paul Furth Sr. Professor of Law, University of Michigan 

William J. Novak, Charles F. and Edith J. Clyne Professor of Law, University  of Michigan 

II. “Reframing the Monopoly Question: Commerce, Land, Industry”

Richard R. John, Professor of Journalism and History, Columbia University 

III. “From Antimonopoly to Antitrust” 

Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Emeritus at  Stanford University 

PART TWO: RETHINKING THE PROGRESSIVE AND NEW DEAL  ANTIMONOPOLY TRADITIONS 

IV. “Antimonopoly and State Regulation of Corporations in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era” 

Naomi R. Lamoreaux, Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics and History,  Yale University; Senior Research Scholar, University of Michigan Law School; Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research

V. “American Antimonopoly and the rise of Regulated Industries Law” 

William J. Novak, Charles F. and Edith J. Clyne Professor of Law, University  of Michigan 

VI. “Banking and the Antimonopoly Tradition: The Long Road to the Bank Holding Company Act” 

Jamie Grischkan, Associate Professor of Law, Arizona State University

PART THREE: REMAKING ANTIMONOPOLY IN A NEW  GLOBAL  AGE 

VII. “De-Nazifying by De-Cartelizing: the Legacy of the American Decartelization Project in Germany” 

Daniel A. Crane, Frederick Paul Furth Sr. Professor of Law, University of  Michigan 

VIII. “Jurisdiction Beyond Our Borders: The Long Road to U.S. v. Alcoa  and the Extraterritorial Reach of American Antitrust, 1909-1945” 

Laura Phillips Sawyer, Associate Professor of Law, University of Georgia

IX. “From Market Power to State Capture: The Fateful Shift in Postwar Antimonopoly” 

James T. Sparrow, Associate Professor of History, the Conceptual and  Historical Studies of Science, and the College, University of Chicago 

PART FOUR: ANTIMONOPOLY AND AMERICAN DEMOCRACY:  SELECT CASE STUDIES 

X. “Antitrust and the Corporate Tax, 1909-1928” 

Reuven Avi-Yonah, Irwin I. Cohn Professor of Law, University of Michigan

XI. “Beyond the Labor Exemption: Labor’s Antimonopoly Vision and the Fight for Greater Democracy” 

Kate Andrias, Patricia D. and R. Paul Yetter Professor of Law, Columbia University

XII. “Antimonopoly in the Media Industries: A History”

Sam Lebovic, Associate Professor of History, George Mason University