Chicago neoliberals reversed course to treat monopoly as benign and rarely present
Evidence
By the mid-1950s, Levi came to propound the opposite viewpoint. In 1956, he and Director wrote, “Since economic theory demonstrates that the presence of monopoly is much more often alleged than confirmed … less rather than more regulation ought to be prescribed” (p. 344). Moreover, contrary to Levi’s 1947 claim, jointly he and Director also maintained that abuses of the firm, such as price-cutting, cannot create or enhance monopoly power (p. 290). They went so far as to claim, “In point of fact even a firm with complete monopoly power over prices and output cannot both get the advantage of such power and impose additional coercive restrictions on suppliers and customers” (p. 290). — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1120
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the broader Chicago School fight against antitrust enforcement — a key doctrine in foundational neoliberalism historiography. — connects to: Early Chicago economists favored regulated capitalism out of skepticism, not market faith. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 108; Friedman reversed the classical liberal claim that monopoly suppresses competition — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1118; Friedman came to see monopoly as persisting only through explicit government support — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1116 (+3 more)
- DEFINE: Shows the core Chicago neoliberal antitrust position: monopoly is more often alleged than confirmed, so deregulation is prescribed.
Broader Connections
- Chicago neoliberals abandoned antitrust hostility to monopoly within a decade
#corroborates(0.95) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1153 - Neoliberalism inverted classical liberalism by defending monopoly and corporate power
#expands(0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 175