The Great Reversal: How America Gave up on Free Markets

by Thomas Philippon

Thomas Philippon argues that the central problems of the US economy are the consequences, not of globalisation, but of the increasing concentration of corporate power across the economy.

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“In Europe, a lot of the antitrust regulations come from the European Commission, who are not elected politicians, but bureaucrats. That was part of the issue with Brexit. They are not representing the people, they’re appointed. But, as a result, they can’t be bought. There’s no election campaign for them. So, in Europe, the competition department is run by Margrethe Vestager, who is Danish. She cannot be bought so she is going to make sure that we don’t have excessive corporate power and concentration and abusive pricing. That’s why we have more competitive markets in Europe than we have in the US. That’s Thomas Philippon’s main insight.” Read more...

The best books on Market Concentration

Jan Loeys, Economist

“His view is that, whereas 30 years ago America had a better antitrust framework and had more competitive markets than Europe, this has now reversed. America now has a weaker antitrust system than Europe. He praises the setup of the antitrust system in the EU in particular. And he thinks that the EU has become much more effective in its pursuit of big companies than America. The book is full of evidence. It’s got lots of empirical evidence and charts and data. It’s a very interesting thesis and a very enjoyable read.” Read more...

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Howard Smith, Economist

“What this author notes very thoroughly is how the extent of competition in the US economy, as measured in a bunch of different ways, has significantly declined in the last 20 years, partly through the influence of these very large companies” Read more...

The Economics of Coronavirus: A Reading List

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