Can COVID-19 Get Congress to Finally Strengthen U.S. Antitrust Law?

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic could cause Congress to strengthen our merger laws. The authors of this short article strongly urge Congress to do this, but to do this in a manner that ignores 5 myths that underpin current merger policy:

Myth 1: Mergers Eliminate Wasteful Redundancies and Produce More Efficient Businesses
Myth 2: Current Merger Enforcement Protects Consumers
Myth 3: Merger Remedies Preserve Competition
Myth 4: The Current Merger Review System Offers Transparency and Guidance to Businesses and the Public
Myth 5: Corporations Need Mergers to Grow

Keywords: mergers, corporate mergers, merger policy, merger efficiencies, antitrust, antitrust policy, merger remedies, enforcement transparency, merger legislation

JEL Classification: K21