Antitrust Paradox

Rating:
Summary: Misinterpreting the word "efficiency"
Review: I have enjoyed other writing by Judge Bork. Unfortunately, in "The Antitrust Paradox" Judge Bork misinterprets the word "efficiency" as it applies to antitrust law. U.S. antitrust law was designed to advance Pareto or economic efficiency, not business or productive efficiency. That misunderstanding leads Judge Bork to propose, in essence, the following Carrollian extended syllogism:
Antitrust law advances "efficiency" and condemns monopoly
Consumer welfare is the goal of antitrust law
Consumer welfare is advanced by lower prices
Monopolists are more "efficient" and provide lower prices
to consumers by economies of scale
Monopolists advance consumer welfare
Monopoly is "efficient" and should be legal
Lest we forget, John D. Rockefeller lowered the consumer price of kerosene approximately ten-fold while he was crushing smaller competitors. With all due respect to Judge Bork, I don't think that is the type of "efficiency" a free, commercial society needs.

Rating:
Summary: Antitrust or Maximization of Consumer Welfare
Review: In the Antitrust Paradox, Judge Robert H. Bork gives a fascinating, though demanding, review of the most important antitrust issues in the United States. The central, pragmatic thesis of Bork is maximization of consumer welfare (also called economic efficiency) and not the protection of small businesses in addressing any antitrust issue. Unfortunately, the legislative, executive and judiciary branches of power as well as the practicing bar have not always shown consistency in making, interpreting, and applying antitrust rules. The main reason for their shared sub-optimal performance in that area is the too-often absence of a rudimentary understanding of market economics according to Bork. As a practicing marketer and lawyer, I agree with his observation. Law and economics are two complementary disciplines that should be taught together as part of the academic requirements or at least whose teaching could be made optional at the undergraduate level in our universities.

Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading.
Review: The Antitrust Paradox is the most important book on antitrust ever written. It is a scholarly, yet accessible, examination of the nation's antitrust laws, the history and policies behind them, and their application from their inception to today. Through the book and the policies advanced in it, Judge Bork has had a profound impact on antitrust scholarship and practice. As a result, the book is essential reading for antitrust practitioners, scholars, and those having any interest in the subject. Truly a seminal work.

Rating:
Summary: Polemic, but good
Review: When you read this book, keep in mind Bork sold out to the populist critics of Microsoft for a fee, and repudiated this book. Which proves that economic theory is great at the macro level, but, at the micro level, game theory beats out.

This is why gains for many are cancelled out by gains for a few that are willing to lobby government (or serve as expensive consultants to their paymasters, as in the case of Bork)

And why economics is but an extension of politics, and, at the end of the day, even inefficient economics can propigate for years, decades, centuries and even millinieums (India, China).

Rating:
Summary: Polemic, but good
Review: When you read this book, keep in mind Bork sold out to the populist critics of Microsoft for a fee, and repudiated this book. Which proves that economic theory is great at the macro level, but, at the micro level, game theory beats out.

This is why gains for many are cancelled out by gains for a few that are willing to lobby government (or serve as expensive consultants to their paymasters, as in the case of Bork)

And why economics is but an extension of politics, and, at the end of the day, even inefficient economics can propigate for years, decades, centuries and even millinieums (India, China).