AAI Joins International Competition Experts at IBA 2022 Conference to Unpack the Role of Antitrust in Addressing Inequality

AAI’s Diana Moss joined a panel of international competition experts on Tuesday, November 1 to discuss “Antitrust’s role in addressing inequality.” The panel was part of the International Bar Association’s 2022 annual conference. On the panel were: Heather Irvine, Bowmans, Sandton, South Africa, Publications Officer, Antitrust Section; Youngjin Jung, Kim & Chang, Seoul, South Korea, Asia Pacific Regional Forum Liaison Officer, Antitrust Section; Dennis Davis, Former Competition Appeal Court Judge President, Cape Town, South Africa; and Madoka Shimada, Nishimura & Asahi, Tokyo, Japan. The panel description is below. Moss provided U.S. perspective on how current antitrust standards and enforcement can (or cannot) address inequality. She noted that while violations that disproportionately affect marginalized and vulnerable groups are reachable under the consumer welfare standard, which can also work to redistribute wealth, much more aggressive enforcement is needed in the areas of labor antitrust, challenges of conduct and mergers that squeeze out smaller businesses, among others. She also noted the need to tap other policy tools, to work in concert with antitrust, to address inequality problems, such as labor, tax, education, and IP policy. 

Panel Description

Is market power at the root of wealth inequality? Can and should antitrust make an active contribution to combatting this inequality? Is it a suitable tool for redistributing wealth? If so, how can it best be used do so? Is concern about inequality a basis for aggressive antitrust enforcement in labor markets designed to raise wages, as some have argued? Is there a risk that this weakens its ability to play its key role of delivering low prices and high quality to consumers? What have been the results when this has been tried? Are competitive markets the surest path to more equality? Are there lessons here from the debate about antitrust’s potential contribution to climate change goals? The panel will debate the latest thinking on this issue, and review examples from jurisdictions that are in the vanguard of tackling inequality through antitrust.