Cambridge Business Association
Antimonopoly Power
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Antimonopoly Power

The Global Fight Against Corporate Concentration

Barry C. Lynn
Foreign Affairs, 2021
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Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon dominate information dissemination, leverage data collection and wield enormous political influence. The power these firms exercise rivals that of Standard Oil and Carnegie Steel more than a century ago, says policy expert Barry C. Lynn. But corporate monopolies are just one piece of a broader global narrative, he writes: Political and economic power is becoming highly concentrated among a relatively small number of nations, businesses and alliances. Lynn offers a thoughtful examination of monopoly behavior – and what it takes to mitigate it – in this compelling report.

Summary

Rising monopoly power runs counter to America’s historically antimonopoly posture, both at home and globally.

Post World-War II America championed an antimonopoly global order that supported free markets and democratic ideals. This bolstered US security and created a prosperous economy for much of the world.

But beginning in the 1980s, during the Reagan Administration, advocates of neoliberal economics won over US political sentiment. They promoted the idea that only maximally efficient production could raise people’s standards of living. In the 1990s, the Clinton administration...

About the Author

Barry C. Lynn is the executive director of the Open Markets Institute and the author of Liberty From All Masters: The New American Autocracy vs. the Will of the People. 

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