Antitrust and the Triumph of Economics
Institutions, Expertise, and Policy Change
Marc Allen Eisner
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 11/2017
Pages: 320
Subject: Political Science
| University of North Carolina
Print ISBN: 9.78E+12
eBook ISBN: 9781469639772
DESCRIPTION
During their early years, the Antitrust Division and the FTC gave little attention to economic analysis. In the period following World War II, however, economic analysis assumed an increasingly important role in both agencies, and economists rose in status from being members of support staff to being pivotal decision makers who, in effect, shaped the policies for which elected officials were generally assumed to be responsible.
In the 1960s and 1970s, critical shifts in prevailing economic theory within the academic community were transmitted into the agencies. This had a profound effect on how antitrust was conceptualized in the federal government. Thus, when Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, the antitrust agencies were already pursuing a conservative enforcement program.
Eisner's study challenges dominant explanations of policy change through a focus on institutional evolution. It has important implications for current debates on the state, professionalization, and the delegation of authority.
Originally published in 1991.
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