Protecting Consumers Is Not Anti-Growth
The UK wants trustbusters to weigh economic growth alongside preserving competition. But merger control works best with a narrow consumer focus.
The drive for growth.
Photographer: PETER CZIBORRA/AFPThe forces protecting consumers from abuse by big business are in retreat. Former Italian Premier Mario Draghi last year called for reform of merger control in Europe to boost the region’s global competitiveness. Firebrand consumer champion Lina Khan has, as expected, left the US Federal Trade Commission antitrust authority. And last week came a real shocker: The UK government ousted the chair of its Competition & Markets Authority merger watchdog.
A problematic narrative is emerging that antitrust regulation needs a philosophical overhaul, and that its primary aim of protecting competition should give way to a more nuanced approach advancing multiple economic goals.