Missed Opportunity: the Enforcement Recommendations Of The antitrust Modernization Commission

摘要

The antitrust enforcement system in this country is seriously flawed, but the Commission recommends few changes. Antitrust penalties should primarily serve a deterrent function and secondarily a compensatory one, and enforcement institutions should be designed to perform these functions at the lowest social cost. The Commission does not begin its analysis with a clear statement of remedial objectives. Penalties spring from a growing number of sources, and they are not coordinated. In some cases, the result can be an excessive cumulative sanction, measured against the optimal penalty; in others, even the cumulative sanction may be inadequate.