Lessons for Competition Law from the Economic Crisis: The Prospect for Antitrust Responses to the 'Too-Big-To-Fail' Phenomenon

Abstract:     
This article examines whether, and the extent to which, antitrust law could contribute to a broader regulatory effort to control the too-big-to-fail problem. The article begins by exploring the nature of the problem. Against this backdrop, it considers antitrust policy and rules to evaluate whether antitrust might play a meaningful role. The article concludes that antitrust law, if vigorously enforced with an emphasis on avoiding too-big-to-fail problems, can be a useful public policy tool to address the problem. However, it can come nowhere near solving it or preventing recurrences of recent systemic failures.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 53

Keywords: antitrust, too-big-to-fail, 2008 financial crisis

Accepted Paper Series