Antitrust

(adjective)

A law opposed to or against the establishment or existence of trusts (monopolies), usually referring to legislation.

Related Terms

Examples of Antitrust in the following topics:

  • Antitrust Laws

    • Antitrust laws ensure that competitive environments are preserved in order to maintain an efficient and equitable capitalistic system.
    • While these antitrust laws differ from nation to nation, they can loosely be summarized in three components:
    • United States (U.S.) - In the U.S., antitrust policy finds its roots in 1890 with the Sherman Antitrust Act.
    • This act was expanded upon in 1914, with two more competitive laws: The Clayton Antitrust Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act.
    • Discuss antitrust laws aimed to improve competition and prevent monopolies from becoming more powerful

  • Federal Efforts to Control Monopoly

    • In 1914, Congress passed two more laws designed to bolster the Sherman Antitrust Act: the Clayton Antitrust Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act.
    • The Clayton Antitrust Act defined more clearly what constituted illegal restraint of trade.
    • The government has continued to pursue antitrust prosecutions since World War II.
    • As these examples demonstrate, it is not always easy to define when a violation of antitrust laws occurs.
    • What's more, conditions change, and corporate arrangements that appear to pose antitrust threats in one era may appear less threatening in another.

  • Monopolies, Mergers, and Restructuring

    • Such concerns gave rise to two major laws aimed at taking apart or preventing monopolies: the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 and the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914.
    • In general, government antitrust officials see a threat of monopoly power when a company gains control of 30 percent of the market for a commodity or service.
    • While antitrust laws may have increased competition, they have not kept U.S. companies from getting bigger.
    • That represented one of the largest divestitures ever mandated by antitrust agencies.
    • But federal antitrust agencies have given their blessings to some joint ventures they believe will yield benefits.

  • Collusion and Competition

    • First, price-fixing is illegal in the United States, and antitrust laws exist to prevent collusion between firms.

  • Regulation of Natural Monopoly

    • Monopolies on the whole are governed under antitrust laws, both on a national level in most countries and on an international level via institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO).
    • Antitrust laws and the careful control of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and other strategic alliances are critical in the regulation of natural monopolies.

  • Current Issues in Health Care

    • Antitrust: Previously, insurance companies were immune to antitrust laws.

  • Government Involvement

    • Congress enacted a law regulating railroads in 1887 (the Interstate Commerce Act), and one preventing large firms from controlling a single industry in 1890 (the Sherman Antitrust Act).

  • Deregulating Transportation

    • While antitrust law may have been intended to increase competition, much other regulation had the opposite effect.

  • Government's Role in the Economy

    • Another form of economic regulation, antitrust law, seeks to strengthen market forces so that direct regulation is unnecessary.
    • The government -- and, sometimes, private parties -- have used antitrust law to prohibit practices or mergers that would unduly limit competition.

  • A Mixed Economy: The Role of the Market

    • It regulates "natural monopolies," for example, and it uses antitrust laws to control or break up other business combinations that become so powerful that they can surmount market forces.