Robert H. Bork Jr. on Trump-Era Antitrust, Consumer Welfare, and the Rise of “Conservative Socialism”

Robert H. Bork Jr. on Trump-Era Antitrust, Consumer Welfare, and the Rise of “Conservative Socialism”

Joseph V. Coniglio hosts Robert H. Bork Jr., president of the Antitrust Education Project, to discuss his book The New Paradox: Antitrust and the Threat of Conservative Socialism. They cover what’s happening now in antitrust policy, Trump-era antitrust continuity, and why antitrust is the wrong tool for speech issues. Publications Mentioned * Bork, Robert H., Jr. The New Paradox: Antitrust and the Threat of Conservative Socialism [https://www.amazon.com/New-Paradox-Antitrust-Conservative-Socialism/dp/B0GQM6J8X9]. Washington, D.C.: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, 2024.  * Bork, Robert H. The Antitrust Paradox. [https://www.amazon.com/Antitrust-Paradox-Robert-H-Bork/dp/1736089706] New York: Basic Books, 1978.  * Bork, Robert H. Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline [https://www.amazon.com/Slouching-Towards-Gomorrah-Liberalism-American/dp/0060573112]. New York: ReganBooks, 1996.  Cases Mentioned * Brown Shoe Co. v. United States, 370 U.S. 294 (1962) * United States v. Von's Grocery Co., 384 U.S. 270 (1966) * Utah Pie Co. v. Continental Baking Co., 386 U.S. 685 (1967) * United States v. AT&T Inc., No. 17-02511 (D.D.C. June 12, 2018)

Tim Muris & Bruce Kobayashi on ‘Zombie Antitrust,’ Price Discrimination, and Robinson-Patman

Joseph V. Coniglio hosts two guests, Tim Muris, Foundation Professor of Law at Antonin Scalia Law School, and Bruce Kobayashi, Paige V. and Henry N. Butler Chair in Law and Economics at Antonin Scalia Law School, to discuss the Robinson-Patman Act and its renewed enforcement. Publications Mentioned * Bruce Kobayashi and Timothy J. Muris. "Stop Making Sense: Reviving the Robinson-Patman Act and the Economics of Intermediate Price Discrimination [https://cei.org/studies/stop-making-sense-reviving-the-robinson-patman-act-and-the-economics-of-intermediate-price-discrimination/]," Competitive Enterprise Institute.  * Timothy J. Muris. "Zombie Antitrust: Is Robinson-Patman a Dead Law Walking? [https://cei.org/studies/zombie-antitrust-is-robinson-patman-a-dead-law-walking/]" Competitive Enterprise Institute.  * Melissa Holyoak and Christopher G. Mufarrige. “From Protecting Competitors to Protecting Competition: The Past, Present, and Future of the Robinson-Patman Act [https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/antitrust/journal/87/issue-2/full-issue.pdf],” Antitrust Law Journal 87, no. 2 (2025). * Bork, Robert H. The Antitrust Paradox: A Policy at War with Itself [https://www.amazon.com/Antitrust-Paradox-Policy-War-Itself/dp/1736089714]. New York: Basic Books, 1978. * Sreya Kolay, Janusz Ordover, and Greg Shaffer. “All-Units Discounts in Retail Contracts [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1430-9134.2004.00018.x],” Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 13, no. 3 (2004): 429–59. * Frederick M. Rowe, Price Discrimination Under the Robinson-Patman Act. [https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3361&context=uclrev] Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1962.  * Joseph J. Spengler, “Vertical Integration and Antitrust Policy [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1828887],” Journal of Political Economy 58, no. 4 (1950): 347–52. Cases Mentioned * Federal Trade Commission v. Morton Salt Co. * Federal Trade Commission v. Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits, LLC.

From the 2026 Antitrust Spring Meeting: Jonathan Barnett on How Competition Enforcers Are Undermining Competition

Joseph V. Coniglio joins guest Jonathan Barnett, Torrey H. Webb Professor of Law at the USC Gould School of Law, at the 2026 Antitrust Spring Meeting. They discuss Barnett’s new ITIF report, Europe’s innovation gap, and China’s mercantilist use of competition law.   Publications Mentioned * Barnett, Jonathan M. The Big Steal: Ideology, Interest, and the Undoing of Intellectual Property [https://www.amazon.com/Big-Steal-Ideology-Interest-Intellectual/dp/0197629520]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024. * Barnett, Jonathan M. Antitrust Undone: How Competition Enforcers Are Undermining Competition [https://itif.org/publications/2026/03/25/antitrust-undone-how-competition-enforcers-are-undermining-competition/]. Washington, DC: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), 2026. * Barnett, Jonathan M. “Antitrust Mercantilism: Strategic Devaluation of Intellectual Property Rights and Wireless Markets [https://btlj.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/0002-38-Haas-Barnett.pdf].” * U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property. 1995.

Creative Discussion Podcast: Greg Werden on the DOJ, Merger Guidelines and the Evolving Role of Economists

Joseph V. Coniglio hosts the third episode of a new antitrust speaker series and interviews longtime antitrust scholar and retired DOJ economist Greg Werden. They discuss Werden’s path from chemistry to economics and his four-decade career at DOJ, discussing both constants and changes in antitrust enforcement.  PUBLICATIONS MENTIONED * Werden, Gregory J. The Foundations of Antitrust [https://cap-press.com/books/isbn/9781531019693/The-Foundations-of-Antitrust?srsltid=AfmBOoqOi82WUWgA-po7eZLaCcOCWCpryq-VPrMLHPIXhHsSyvLbpqAI]. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020. * Werden, Gregory J. “The Competitive Process Standard [https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/antitrust/journal/86/issue-2/competitive-process-standard.pdf].” Antitrust Law Journal (2024). * Areeda, Phillip E., and Herbert Hovenkamp. Antitrust Law: An Analysis of Antitrust Principles and Their Application. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1978–. * Bork, Robert H. The Antitrust Paradox: A Policy at War with Itself [https://www.amazon.com/Antitrust-Paradox-Policy-War-Itself/dp/1736089714]. New York: Basic Books, 1978. CASES MENTIONED * United States v. Microsoft Corp. * United States v. IBM Corp. * United States v. AT&T Co. * United States v. Philadelphia National Bank * Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States * Chicago Board of Trade v. United States

Alden Abbott on the Chicago School, the Neo-Brandeisian Experiment, and the Future of Conservative Antitrust

Joseph V. Coniglio hosts the second episode of a new antitrust speaker series and interviews Alden Abbott, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and an advisory board member of the Antitrust Education Project. They discuss antitrust’s Chicago Revolution, Neo-Brandeisian enforcement, and the Google & Meta cases.