The Randolph W. Thrower Symposium: Business Law: The Impact of Competition on Regulation - Introduction

Abstract

The focus of the 2003 Emory Law Journal Randolph Thrower Symposium was on the impact of competition on regulation. Judge Frank Easterbrook warns of the public expense incurred for private gains in regulation, and of the rate of judicial error in antitrust regulation. Fred McChesney traces the intellectual history of the battle for the soul of antitrust, and the regulatory competition among state, federal and international regulators to be the most restrictive and visible regulators of the field. George Benston traces the failures of regulation that led to Enron and Sarbanes-Oxley, blaming lawyers, accountants and regulators for a move from standards to rules. Barry Adler and Henry Butler examine Delaware's current prominence in Chapter 11 reorganization, and argue that no theory supports a prediction of permanent preeminence of the kind observed in corporate law. Jonathan Macy traces the internationalization of regulation, and describes three forces that create international uniformity in regulation, while Henry Manne imagines a corporate world without regulation.

Keywords: Regulation, Competition, Securities, Antitrust, Bankruptcy, Corporations

JEL Classification: G33, G34, G38, K11, K21, K22, K23, L40