Austrian economics redirected antitrust critique from firm monopoly to state and union restrictions

Evidence

No macroeconomic dimension of innovation was required to meet his threshold of abundant entrepreneurship, and the market process trumped market structure in what became a contingency theory of more or less restricted entrepreneurship. Following this shift, Mont Pèlerin members increasingly directed their attention to the wide range of restrictions on entrepreneurship. Instead of the traditional focus on the monopoly power of firms as an impediment to the market, the subtle move towards market practice enabled the shift of attention to state-related policy issues like taxation and regulation, and trade-union-related collective action, as the primary targets of critique. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 280

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the law-and-economics and Chicago School focus on regulation and unions as market distortions; relates to broader neoliberal redefinition of monopoly from firm power to state power. — connects to: Austrian economics originated as a reaction against state-led development — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 382; Neoliberalism inverted classical liberalism by defending monopoly and corporate power — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 175; Friedman reversed the classical liberal claim that monopoly suppresses competition — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1118 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism inverted classical liberalism by defending monopoly and corporate power #complicates (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 175
• Friedman reversed the classical liberal claim that monopoly suppresses competition #responds-to (0.70) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1118