A Private Revolution: Markovits and Markets

Abstract

Although the title of Professor Markovits' article begins with the words "International Competition" and "Market Definition," the thrust of his article is not about the effect of international competition on market definition. Indeed, Markovits believes that the presence of foreign competitors should not influence the way in which markets should be defined, because, in Markovits' words, "markets should never be defined at all." For Markovits, the judicial and academic interpreters of the Clayton Act have erred in assessing whether a merger will tend to lessen competition by calculating the market shares and market concentration. Markovits' major thesis is clearly that the traditional market-oriented approach to competitive-impact analysis is not cost-effective, and should be replaced by his own non-market approach. His minor thesis, and the article's nexus with this Symposium, is that "the presence of international competition makes the market-oriented approach even more conventionally cost-ineffective" and therefore the internationalization of the economy militates even more in favor of his non-market approach.