ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an analysis of the antitrust laws in general terms and how the laws have dealt with one major problem: monopoly power. What emerged in 1914 were two pieces of major antitrust legislation, the Clayton Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC). The FTC Act established the FTC as an independent antitrust agency to enforce the Clayton Act. Antitrust enforcement typically begins with an action by either the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department or the Federal Trade Commission. An understanding of antitrust policy, therefore, requires a historical as well as an economic perspective. In 1972, the FTC attempted an original approach to the problem of market power. The Commission charged the major cereal producers with a shared monopoly. In the 1993 Spectrum Sports case the Supreme Court reaffirmed the primacy of starting from a position of monopoly power in a relevant market.
