Corporate Concentration
Monopolies and Corporate Concentration:
Antitrust and Congress: Check out our paper on corporate concentration.
Related information:
The American Antitrust Institute drafted a useful Agenda for Congress in 2007 and submitted testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrutst for a hearing in March, 2007.
Justice Department to hold workshops on Agriculture and Antitrust Enforcement in 2010. For more information go here
Recommended New Book: Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction by Barry Lynn. An excerpt is available here.
Related Links:
Government:
U.S. Federal Trade Commission
The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division Home Page
The Department of Justice’s Congressional Testimony
House Judiciary Committee Task Force on Antitrust
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights
Senate Hearing on Antitrust Enforcement
Speeches by Robert Pitofsky (1995-2001)
CRS Summary of U.S. Antitrust Law
The Antitrust Modernization Commission (an industry-friendly panel created by Congress in 2002) published its final report (PDF) in 2007. For our critique of the AMC, go here.
Monopoly and Monopolization (CRS Report for Congress, May 23, 2005)
National Association of Attorneys General
Competition Online’s list of Antitrust and Regulatory Sites
FTC Watch
MergerStat
Public Interest Groups
Consumer Project on Technology Antitrust Policy and Enforcement Page
Oligopoly Watch
American Antitrust Institute
Top 200: The Rise of Corporate Global Power (report by the Institute for Policy Studies)
“Divide and Conquer: Restraining Vertical Integration and Cross Industry Ownership” by Robert Weissman
Antitrust Case Browser (St. Olaf College)
Antitrust Law and Economics Review (up to 1996)
Against Monopoly
Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies (Loyola University, Chicago)
Concentration in Specific Business Sectors:
Agribusiness:
Organization for Competitive Markets
National Farmers’ Union (Heffernan) April 2007 report on Concentration in Ag Markets
“From Concentrate” by Tom Philpott (Grist, 4/26/07)
Agribusiness Accountability Initiative
The ETC Group publishes annual reports on multinational corporate concentration, not only in food and agriculture but a variety of sectors related to the products and processes of life. See the 2005 report, as well as the 2003 report.
“Food, Inc.: Corporate concentration from farm to consumer,” by Bill Vorley and the UK Food Group.
Consolidation in the Food and Agriculture System by William Heffernan et al. Paper for the National Farmers Union. (1999)
Senate Judiciary Hearings on Monopsony issues in Agriculture (10/30/03)
Senate Judiciary Hearings on Meat Packer Abuses of Market Power (8/23/02)
CRS Report: “Merger and Antitrust Issues in Agriculture” (1/29/03)
Energy:
Impact of High Oil Prices on Consumers and the Economy (Joint Economic Committee, US Congress, 2/27/08)
Record of Joint Economic Committee Hearings on Effects of Petroleum Industry Concentration, 5/23/07)
American Petroleum Institute Primer (May, 2008)
For information about the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) see Public Citizen’s Critical Mass and Energy Program.
Media Ownership:
The Case Against Media Consolidation (entire book available to download – PDF).
Comments to the FCC (10/06) by Consumer’s Union, The Consumer Federation of America and Free Press
Stop Big Media explains the impacts on journalism, community culture, etc.
Columbia Journalism Review’s Media Ownership Page
Center for Digital Democracy Media Ownership Page “The Five Sisters” by William Safire, NYTimes 2/16/04 “Reclaiming the First Amendment: Constitutional Theories of Media Reform” (conference at Hofstra Law School, 1/19/07)
Free Press
Senate Judiciary Hearing on News Corp/DirectTV Deal (6/11/03)
Media Refom Information Center
Retail:
“Breaking the Chain”: Wal-Mart and Antitrust by Barry Lynn (Harpers)
Big-Box Swindle, book by Stacy Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
“Facing Goliath: Challenging the Impacts of Supermarket Consolidation on Our Local Economies, Communities and Food Security”, briefing paper by the Oakland Institute (2007)
Other:
Prof. John M. Connor’s review of Global Cartels (1990-2008) (PDF)
“The Little Agency That Could” (FTC) by Michael Perschuk, The Nation, 6/29/09.
“U.S. Clears the Way for Antitrust Crackdown,” by Cecilia Kang, Wash. Post 5/12/09 (A13)
“Bring Back Antitrust” by NYU Law Prof. Harry First, The Nation, 10/2/08
“Antitrust Law Losing Its Teeth,” by David Savage, L.A. Times, 3/19/07
“Has the Antitrust Division Lost its Nerve?” by Jason McLure, Legal Times, 1/11/07
“Rocket Monopoly Approved: Boeing-Lockheed Alliance Likely to Increase Costs,” by Renae Merle, Wash. Post 10/4/06 (D1)
“In Business We Trust” by NYU Law Prof. Eleanor Fox, The Nation, 10/9/00
“Corporate Concentration”, Multinational Monitor, November 1998