This morning “The Monopoly Problem” includes a post on yesterday’s Paramount merger decision. Hardly the end of this case, but the state Attorneys General have some reason to be hopeful. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Prominent post-Chicago antitrust economist Steve Salop (G-Town) has performed a great service -- a guide to antitrust and modern economics -- free in .pdf or an inexpensive Amazon Paperback. You dont need much economics in order to read it. econantitrustguide.com

The third of my 3-part discussion of the Robinson-Patman Act in "The Monopoly Problem" considers possibilities for reform. Subscription is free. substack.com/home/post/p-...

This morning my substack “The Monopoly Problem” posted the second in a series – “How Does the Robinson-Patman Act Work? A third post, in a few days, discusses reform possibilities. herbhovenkamp.substack.com/p/how-does-t...

This post in The Monopoly Problem, "The Salesman, the Housewife, and the Campaign Against Low Prices," is part of a 3-part series on the Robinson-Patman Act. Coming next: how the RPA works, and then, whether it can be reformed. substack.com/home/post/p-...

My new post in “The Monopoly Problem” frets about Trump v. Slaughter as a threat to FTC independence, and wonders what the Agency will look like now and how it can be fixed. substack.com/home/post/p-...

I argue in “The Monopoly Problem” that antitrust’s rule of reason is not so open ended that it violates the rule of law, but only if the courts keep it within its intended boundaries. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Posting from Scotland, so sorry about the hour. Here I argue in “The Monopoly Problem” that antitrust’s rule of reason is not so open ended that it violates the rule of law, provided that the courts keep it within its intended boundaries. substack.com/@herbhovenkamp

tomorrow (June 30) I will be posting on whether antitrust law's rule of reason violates the rule of law. Subscriptions to my substack, "The Monopoly Problem," are free: substack.com/@herbhovenkamp.

This new post in “The Monopoly Problem” shows that market concentration remains important to antitrust policy, but not as important as hard core structuralists once imagined. Subscribe for free: substack.com/home/post/p-...

My first of two posts on market concentration and its link to bad results examines how U.S. antitrust policy came to be concerned about it. Subscription is free: substack.com/home/post/p-...

Here is my new paper commemorating the 50th anniversary of Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) pre-merger notification, which was intended to be enforcement neutral, and assessing its effectiveness. Comments welcome. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

although "market failure" is defined so broadly as to be practically useless. Nearly NO markets provide as much of things as someone might want..

A post in Jacobin Mag. ask if big tech is facing it's "big tobacco" moment. One impt dif is that Tobacco settled into a rigid lockstep, low innovation oligopoly, while tech remains the fastest growing, competitive, and most innovative part of the economy. jacobin.com/2026/06/big-...

This contribution to “The Monopoly Problem” considers Justice Brandeis’ two important decisions that made him the inventor of Antitrust’s Rule of Reason. Subscribing is free. substack.com/home/post/p-...

My new post in “The Monopoly Problem” focuses on most-favored-nation agreements and the relationship among Amazon, its coveted Buy Box, and third-party merchants. Subscribe for free. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Some people do not like a “consumer welfare” standard in antitrust because they associate it with a meaning Robert Bork gave to it in the 1970s that is inconsistent with what the Supreme Court has said. See my post in “The Monopoly Problem.” substack.com/home/post/p-...

This paper explores antitrust treatment of disruptions: 1) Gilded Age rise of large firms; 2) the revolution in consumer distribution; and 3) the IBM litigation. It asks whether antitrust policy on big tech risks repeating earlier errors. Comments welcome. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

It recalls per se tying laws “not insubstantial” amount of commerce , widely assailed as an incompetent way of measuring either market power or exclusion

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which failed to be enacted during the Biden Administration, was proposed anew today. My thoughts in "The Monopoly Problem" are here: herbhovenkamp.substack.com/p/competitio...

My latest post in “The Monopoly Problem:” Is aggressive pursuit of antitrust claims and remedies in high tech markets the best use of enforcement resources? substack.com/home/post/p-...

Antitrust law's unique form of economic analysis often forbids courts to compare competitive harms, or losses, in one portion of a firm’s business with benefits that result from the same conduct in other parts -- see my post in “The Monopoly Problem.” herbhovenkamp.substack.com/p/should-ant...

My latest post in The Monopoly Problem discusses one of the most consequential decisions that Congress made concerning antitrust policy: whether to adopt an approach that limited the size and scope of firms, or one that favored competitive prices. herbhovenkamp.substack.com/p/the-traito...

The Boston Univ. Law Review has published my piece on the Google Search case and Antitrust's goals for remedies, 106 Boston Univ. L. Rev. 305 (2026). www.bu.edu/bulawreview/...

In The Monopoly Problem I posted today on the goals of the antitrust laws, particularly on the origin and meaning of the “consumer welfare” principle. herbhovenkamp.substack.com/p/the-suprem...

I am starting a substack newsletter, “The Monopoly Problem,” substack.com/home/post/p-.... Please sign up for a free subscription and I will try to make it worth your while. I will post as often as my day job permits. Herb Hovenkamp

Is exclusive dealing a legit way to exclude a lower priced generic? In Teva, 2026 WL 1224122 (NDCal 5-5-26) the court sustained most of an exclusive dealing claim that the defendant used it to excluded a generic.

My piece on structure of merger law is coming out in Notre Dame. One Q it asks is why are so many mergers followed by significant gains (lower prices, higher output), and suggests that we underestimate the value of complementarity in horizontal mergers. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Hotels won another round on algorithmic price fixing. Segal v. Amadeus Group, 2026 WL 879583, dismissed a complaint against hoteliers who use software to compute "optimal" output and price. See the piece by Thibault Schrepel and myself. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Is antitrust law about fairness? @sherman1890.bsky.social’s answer is clear: no, and it never was. In this piece, Prof. Hovenkamp dismantles the growing assumption in competition debates that antitrust should correct inequality or redistribute economic power. www.networklawreview.org/hovenkamp-fa...

Many laws promote fairness or compel redistribution. Antitrust law is not among them. Its concern is limited to preserving market competition. One deviation was the Robinson-Patman Act, which subsidized obsolete business models at consumers' expense. www.networklawreview.org/hovenkamp-fa...

My article on the Google Search remedies decision is now in page proof in the Boston Univ. L. Rev. Lots still going on in this case. here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Lazar Radic has a very good post in TOTM on the war against consumer preferences that has become the EU's Digital Markets Act. A good warning to those in the USA thinking about reviving any movement to pass something similar. truthonthemarket.com/2026/03/19/t...

interesting 3-20-2026 decision by J. Mehta, denying standing in a Google Search case, but also resisting the attempt to find an unlawful "tying arrangement" when a firm includes AI tools in its digital product. Helena World Chron. v. Google, 2026 WL 787882 (DDC).

The Philadelphia Citizen just published an interview with me about an important piece of local antitrust history -- the Philadelphia Bank merger decision. thephiladelphiacitizen.org

The shopping court was invented by Sylvan Goldman, whose Sun chain owned 55 stores by that time and later merged with others to become Piggly-Wiggly -- not as big as Kroger, but a large chain nonetheless.

The Fed Cir held in Global Tubing v. Tenaris, 2026 WL 530911 (Feb 26, 2026) that a firm claimed to have a 26% market share could be guilty of attempted monopolization by intentionally withholding material documents in its patent application. Things are changing at the Fed. Cir.

Thibault Schrepel and I have a coming piece in Harv Bus. L. Rev. on collusion through digital management programs. US and EU decisions substantially agree. The most difficult issue is distinguishing innocent information exchanges and unlawful agreement. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

In a revised Facebook opinion, Dec. 2, 2025 WL 3458822, J. Boasberg removed redactions, concluding FB's market share was “almost certainly below 54%" and falling, in a market without YouTube -- too low for §2. Seems cautious to include YouTube, even though the substitution evidence would include it.

My article on the Google Search Remedies decision, focusing on remedies for digital market dominance, will appear in the Boston University Law Review. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Lanes Miles, Mark Lemley, and my new Wharton colleague Rory Van Loo have an interesting new article on interlocking directorates. They are more numerous, and also sometimes sit as senior directors at large institutional investors. "Anticompetitive Directors," columbialawreview.org/content/anti...

I don't disagree, but we also TM bananas (Chiquita and Del Monte). What is that signaling? I'm guessing no product differentiation whatsoever. quality? not unless there are inferior alternatives. And I don't think it's status.

okay, I'm convinced.

but does trademark have much to do with it? isn't it the same as Thorstein Veblen's big front yards of untilled ground? ("conspicuous consumption"). Probably easier to fake a Rolex than a big yard.

I'm not a good predictor, but I have doubts. I don't think that even this SCT wants to extend Trinko to remedies, and the less-restrictive alternative issue seems to be more words than substance.

Google's cert. petition agnst Epic Games (10-27, 9th Cir.) asks whether rule of reason antitrust plaintiff has a burden to prove a less restrictive alternative; and also attacks the notion that Trinko's refusal to deal doctrine does not apply to remedies. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

In Academy of Allergy, 2025 WL 2886701 (6thCir. Oct. 10, 2025) the court held that the SCT’s indirect purchaser rule (in this case “indirect supplier”) precluded an antitrust action against a harmful cartel. A concurrence lamented that fact. It’s time to overrule Illinois Brick.

Vols 12, 13, 14 of Antitrust Law, 5th edition came out today—cartels, joint ventures, and Robinson-Patman Acr

Here is my draft of a relatively short but article-length assessment of Judge Mehta’s Google Search remedies decision. Still under revision and comments welcome. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

My piece on "Finding Monopoly: Antitrust Market Definition" is in the Sep. 2025 CPI Antitrust Chronicle, part of a symposium on market definition in antitrust. No longer paywalled. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....