Antitrust as an Interdisciplinary Field: Insights from Economics and Business Strategy

Scholars and commentators have long suggested antitrust may be best served through acknowledgment of its interdisciplinary foundations and a more depth understanding of the issues. As one Nobel Prize Laureate in economics observed more than thirty years ago:

Antitrust is an interdisciplinary field that is best served by acknowledging that a deeper understanding of the issues will result by addressing the subject from several points of view.

Some contend that progressive advances to economics are needed to adequately inform extant understanding of competition in antitrust. Others argue that to fully address the complex nature of contemporary exchange and competition, additional modes of understanding beyond economics are required.

Various sources of wisdom have been identified as relevant to antitrust including the other social sciences, humanities and traditional legal analysis. Within economics the fields of behavioral and evolutionary economics are now being cultivated for their antitrust implications. The business strategy disciplines of strategic management, marketing and related fields have also been identified, but their insights remain to be more fully developed. Each is relevant to antitrust given their address of competitive behavior by firms and managers.

For more than a decade, through its mission of research and education, the American Antitrust Institute (AAI) has taken the lead in advancing antitrust as an interdisciplinary field. Focusing on the role of progressive economics and business strategy and research, AAI has convened annual symposia, held special conferences and hosted other events to examine the role of each for informing competition policy and antitrust law. Many contributions from these occasions have been archived in antitrust journals and law reviews.

AAI’s 2013 Invitational Symposium — Antitrust as an Interdisciplinary Field: Insights from Economics and Business Strategy, will take stock of these contributions, and examine in more depth, developments occurring in economics and the business disciplines and their implications for antitrust thought and practice. The interdisciplinary day-long symposium will be held June 11, 2013 at the National Press Club, Washington D.C.

The day will include presentations by noted scholars, business leaders, and experienced practitioners with expertise in antitrust law, economics, strategic management, marketing and related disciplines. Presentations will examine the evolving role of economics in competition policy and antitrust together with relevant trends and developments occurring in the business disciplines of strategic management and marketing. A concluding roundtable will invite participants to share their ideas and to discuss others.

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