Thomas Jeffrey Horton

Efficiencies and Antitrust Reconsidered: An Evolutionary Perspective

The author reconsiders the issue of efficiencies and antitrust from the perspectives of evolutionary biology and the growing field of evolutionary economics. He begins by discussing how the term efficiency as currently used in antitrust today is more of a term of social science and economic ideology than a meaningful scientific concept. He then moves on to address how the lessons of evolutionary biology and economics, including the need for systemic diversity and unremitting competition at all systemic levels, can be applied to structural antitrust and efficiencies analyses. The author concludes that it is time to bring fresh perspectives to the study of efficiencies and antitrust. He recommends a series of reforms, including increased and more aggressive enforcement against horizontal mergers between competitors; renewed interest in vertical mergers and agreements; and more aggressive guarding of competitive diversity and opportunity against unfair predatory conduct by dominant firms, monopolies, and oligopolies.