Approaches to Antitrust Analysis : Historical and Modern Objectives, Economic Policy Concerns, and the Theoretical Underpinnings of the Statutory and Adjudicative Frameworks

The principal expression of the federal antitrust policy remains, to this day, the Sherman Act of 1890, which prohibits “[e]very contract, combination... , or conspiracy, in restraint of trade” and “[e]very... attempt to monopolize.” Thus, in enacting the federal antitrust statutes, it may be said that “Congress was dealing with competition, which it sought to protect, and monopoly, which it sought to prevent.” While this deceptively simple formulation seems rhetorically reassuring, it is neither self-defining nor is it as clear as it may appear