Reporting Live from the Nexus of Antitrust & Consumer Protection

37 Pages Posted: 23 Dec 2022 Last revised: 22 Jul 2023

See all articles by Luke Herrine

Luke Herrine

University of Alabama - School of Law

Date Written: December 14, 2022

Abstract

This article, part of a symposium issue on progressive antitrust, uses Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act to examine the relationship between antitrust and consumer protection. It argues that, since roughly 1980, there has been a hegemonic "neoliberal" framework, one that has in recent years been challenged by an emerging "moral economy" framework. The neoliberal framework conceptualizes antitrust as preventing firms from conspiring to throttle output, with a focus primarily on consumers' interests in low prices, and consumer protection as making consumers informed, rational, and able to switch between competitors with relatively low cost. The moral economy framework conceptualizes both areas of law as aiming to prevent powerful players from using their power to manipulate conditions in their favor and away from a more general (though contested) notion of the public interest. Implications of each view for the application of Section 5 are explored, with attention to the case law surrounding each area of doctrine.

Keywords: consumer protection, antitrust, economic regulation, federal trade commission, competition law,

Suggested Citation

Herrine, Luke, Reporting Live from the Nexus of Antitrust & Consumer Protection (December 14, 2022). 2023 Utah Law Review 849 (2023), U of Alabama Legal Studies Research Paper Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4302722

Luke Herrine (Contact Author)

University of Alabama - School of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 870382
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
United States

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