No, Monopoly Has Not Grown

Over the past several years, advocates of much stricter antitrust laws and enforcement have grounded their case on a simple claim: U.S. industry concentration (monopoly) has increased to crisis proportions and the only solution is a radical overhaul of our nation’s antitrust laws, imposing much stricter limits on mergers and breaking up leading companies.

But as Rob Atkinson writes in National Review, there is only one problem: Concentration has not increased, even though the “fact” of rising concentration has been picked up by a large number of pundits and commentators.

You’d think that pundits, advocates, and public officials would make some attempt to rely on data. But alas, that is not the case.