In a world that is, with ample justification, skeptical of government, can antitrust improve the future of the digital marketplace? We believe it can, if judiciously applied.

Much of the Foundation's work is concerned with deregulating traditional regulated industries, such as telecommunications and electricity. We believe that, wherever the conditions for workable competition exist, it is in the interest of consumers to rely more on markets and less on regulation. But deregulated markets may sometimes be subject to market power abuses. Antitrust can be a useful safeguard to have in these situations.

In addition, the digital economy is frequently characterized by "competition for the market". As Schumpeter taught us, such competition is an extremely important source of innovation. But, in order for this system to work well over time, the current winner should not be able to use its market power to squelch competition in the next round - the next competition should also be on the merits. Antitrust sometimes has a role in ensuring that this is the case.

Click here to see a complete list of all PFF works on Competition.