Reading: Sherman Anti-Trust Act
US
Economy in the late 1800’s
•Abundant
natural resources
•A
willing and able workforce
•Pro-business
regulations
•Advances
in technology
•John
D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie capitalized on the industrial revolution by
establishing huge corporations in the oil and steel industry
•This
period of economic expansion, increased quality of life for most, low
unemployment, and opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship it also
introduced threats to the free market.
Monopoly
•During
the industrial revolution in the late 1800’s, for the first time in the US
economy, consumer experience the power that can come from a monopoly.
•A
monopoly is a single company that controls and entire industry.
The
Threat of Monopolies and Trusts
•Regulators
struggled with how to continue to create a business friendly environment, but
also protect consumers from potential abuses of a monopoly.
•When
a company controls an entire market it has no competition. It is able to keep
supply artificially low, forcing prices up.
•Monopolies
can fix prices to achieve outrageously high margins.
•The
United States was the freest market in the world at this time, but it was also
clear to regulators that an efficient free market system was only possible with
competition.
What
is the Sherman Act?
•The
first major federal antitrust law
•Targeted
at breaking up monopolies
•Prohibiting
two types of anticompetitive business behavior:
- Contracts, combinations, or conspiracies in restraint for trade or commerce
- Monopolies and attempts to monopolize
- Contracts, combinations, or conspiracies in restraint for trade or commerce
- Monopolies and attempts to monopolize
•Fails
to define what is a contract, combination, or conspiracy in restrain of trade.
•Based
in the common law interpretation of federal courts
最后修改: 2018年08月14日 星期二 10:17