Concentration has increased since the 1980s in a variety of industries. Price-cost margins have also increased over this period. These developments have raised concern about weakened competition and resulting harm to consumers. Calls for tougher antitrust enforcement have become louder. Many...

George Stigler’s “The Theory of Economic Regulation” (1971) is a landmark in the economics of regulation. It used simple public choice reasoning to set out the “capture theory” of regulation whereby “… as a rule, regulation is acquired by the industry and is designed and operated...