New Ideas: An Optimal Standard for Antitrust Policy I

One of the most engaging panels in last year's conference discussed "What is the Future of the Consumer Welfare Standard?" The main question then was whether antitrust scholars and policymakers can develop an alternative but still administrable standard to guide U.S. antitrust policy in this new enforcement era. While there was a general agreement (on the panel and at the conference) that change is needed, there was little convergence on what an alternative standard—one that can be properly and coherently enforced by regulators and judges—may look like. That is why in preparation for this conference, we put out a call for papers focused on the development of a legal/economic standard that can serve as a replacement for, or an improvement of, the current Consumer Welfare Standard. The final three panels of our conference will be dedicated to discussing different views on what standard should guide modern antitrust policy. All contributions will be published in advance on the Stigler Center publication ProMarket.org, and authors will present and discuss them at the conference. Moderator: Elettra Bietti, New York University Herbert Hovenkamp, University of Pennsylvania (with Fiona Scott Morton, Yale University) Stavros Makris, University of Glasgow Tommaso Valletti, Imperial College London