Monopoly Power

Featured

In The Atlantic: Amazon Is a Private Government. Congress Needs to Step Up.

August 11, 2020

In The Atlantic, Stacy Mitchell explains why Congress must reign in the monopoly power of these companies in order to restore balance to both our economy and our democracy.READ MORE

Our Guide Gives State and Local Leaders Tools to Fight Corporate Monopolies

Jess Del Fiacco

July 15, 2020

As state and local leaders grapple with how to create a true recovery — one that lifts wages, fosters small businesses, and rebalances power — combating outsized corporate power is a key strategy. Check out ILSR's guide to antimonopoly policies for states and cities.READ MORE

ILSR Submits Recommendations for Antitrust Reform to Congressional Committee

Zach Freed

May 11, 2020

Stacy Mitchell provides the House Judiciary Committee with recommendations for future antitrust legislation.READ MORE

Recent

ILSR's Shaoul Sussman Testifies in Support of NY Antitrust Legislation

Zach Freed

September 17, 2020

ILSR’s legal fellow Shaoul Sussman testified before the New York State Assembly, in support of new state legislation, the Twenty-First Century Antitrust Act.READ MORE

Zephyr Teachout on Building an Antimonopoly Movement (Episode 108)

Jess Del Fiacco

September 3, 2020

Zephyr Teachout, author of the new book Break 'Em Up, shares her thoughts on building an antimonopoly movement, what she finds encouraging and discouraging in our current moment, and how she approaches antimonopoly work as a democracy activist.READ MORE

Hill Briefing: Breaking the Power of Big Tech

Stacy Mitchell

September 2, 2020

ILSR helped organize and participated in a briefing, cosponsored by more than 40 local and national economic and racial justice, small business, and antimonopoly groups, making the case for Congress to break up and regulate Big Tech. The event included opening remarks from Congressman David Cicilline followed by two lively panels. Watch!READ MORE

ILSR Joins Allies to Launch "Protect Our Restaurants" Campaign

Jess Del Fiacco

August 18, 2020

A coalition of 35 independent restaurants and economic justice organizations, including ILSR, today launched Protect Our Restaurants, a new organizing campaign aimed at exposing the unfair and uncompetitive practices used by dominant delivery apps to exploit small businesses, workers, and consumers.READ MORE

In ProMarket: Big Tech is Officially Too Big to Manage

Shaoul Sussman

August 5, 2020

Last week, the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee held Big Tech's feet to the fire. They grilled the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google about the power that these four companies have over the U.S. economy and our society. In light of this epic hearing, ILSR Legal Fellow writes in ProMarket that we are seeing a "monumental shift in the public debate surrounding Big Tech."READ MORE

ILSR Research Cited in Congressional Antitrust Hearing

Jess Del Fiacco

July 30, 2020

ILSR research was cited in the congressional hearing to investigate monopoly power in Big Tech.READ MORE

In Politico: Why Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple are Bad for America

Shaoul Sussman

July 30, 2020

In advance of the CEOs of the four Big Tech giants testifying before the House Antitrust Subcommittee, ILSR legal fellow Shaoul Sussman and monopoly expert Matt Stoller articulate the implications of this investigation.READ MORE

In Slate: Break Up Budweiser

Susan Holmberg

July 10, 2020

In Slate, Ron Knox explains that the beer industry is not the craft brewery utopia we like to imagine. Misguided policies have allowed monopolies to dominate the market, creating a bottleneck that undermines small breweries.READ MORE

Biting Back: Delivery Apps are Gobbling Up Restaurant Revenues, and Cities Have Had Enough

Kennedy Smith

May 29, 2020

Wall Street-funded delivery services are taking a huge bite out of restaurants' meager revenues. Restaurant owners are desperate and furious — and cities are pushing back.READ MORE

In the American Prospect: Monopolies in Meat

Ron Knox

May 4, 2020

ILSR Senior Researcher Ron Knox explains how a regulatory system that is supposed to protect the food supply has instead led to giant slaughterhouses rampant with Covid-19. READ MORE

In the Washington Post: We're Short on Hospital Beds Because of Hospital Consolidation

Ron Knox

April 8, 2020

In the Washington Post, Senior Researcher Ron Knox and Roosevelt Institute co-author Andrea Flynn explain how monopoly power is impacting Americans' access to health care, particular hospitals' ability to fight the COVID-19 crisis.READ MORE

Reports

Report: Amazon's Monopoly Tollbooth

Stacy Mitchell

July 28, 2020

Amazon’s dominance of online retail means that hundreds of thousands of small businesses must rely on its site to reach customers. In this report, we find that Amazon is exploiting its gatekeeper power to extract a growing cut of the revenue earned by these sellers. It's doing this by imposing ever-larger fees on them. This tactic is often dooming their businesses. It's also enabling Amazon to entrench its monopoly grip on e-commerce, while expanding its dominance into logistics and advertising.READ MORE

Report: Fewer Small Businesses are Receiving Federal Relief Loans in States Dominated by Big Banks

Stacy Mitchell

April 29, 2020

A significantly larger number of federal relief loans are reaching small businesses in states where small, local banks comprise a greater share of the market, compared to states where big banks are more dominant, an ILSR analysis has found.READ MORE

Report: Walmart’s Monopolization of Local Grocery Markets

Stacy Mitchell

June 26, 2019

In 43 metropolitan areas and 160 smaller markets, Walmart controls 50 percent or more of the local grocery market. No other corporation in history has ever amassed this degree of control over the U.S. food system. Our findings provide a stark illustration of the failings of contemporary antitrust policy.READ MORE

Report: Amazon’s Monopoly

Stacy Mitchell

November 29, 2016

Amazon is destroying competition and market diversity, leaving us with fewer choices, less innovation, and diminished opportunities.READ MORE

Report: Monopoly Power and the Decline of Small Business

Stacy Mitchell

August 10, 2016

Small businesses have been in steep decline. In this report, we argue that anticompetitive behavior by large, dominant corporations is largely to blame and present three reasons to bring a commitment to fair markets for small businesses back into antitrust policy. The report won an award for antitrust scholarship in 2017.READ MORE

Federal Antitrust Advocacy

ILSR's Testimony on Amazon's Dominance Before the House Judiciary Committee

Stacy Mitchell

July 15, 2019

ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell testified on Amazon's market power before the House Judiciary Committee as part of its antitrust investigation into dominant digital platforms.READ MORE

Statement on House Antitrust Investigation into Big Tech

Hibba Meraay

June 4, 2019

In response to the House Judiciary Committee’s announcement that it will begin a study of the impact of dominant technology platforms, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance released the following statement.READ MORE

ILSR Joins Petition to Ban Non-Compete Agreements, Highlights Harm to Local Businesses and Entrepreneurship

Charlie Thaxton

March 20, 2019

ILSR joined a petition calling on the FTC to ban non-compete agreements. We offer a rundown of how they undermine entrepreneurship and small businesses.READ MORE

Statement on Sen. Warren's proposal to Break Up Big Tech

Stacy Mitchell

March 8, 2019

ILSR applauds Senator Warren’s plan to restore the balance of power in our democracy and revive competition by breaking up big tech companies.READ MORE

ILSR Submits Comments to the FTC on Staples / Essendant Merger

Zach Freed

February 26, 2019

ILSR's comments explain why this merger will harm competition, undermine independent office supply businesses, and accelerate Amazon’s dominance of this industry, and why the FTC needs to take a much tougher stance on deals like this.READ MORE

In FTC Hearings, a Few Bright Spots Amid a Pro-Monopoly Status Quo

Zach Freed

November 2, 2018

The FTC is examining the state of antitrust policy. Many of those invited to testify have reinforced the status quo, but moments of dissent show the consensus is facing an emerging challenge.READ MORE

ILSR Submits Comments as Federal Trade Commission Embarks on a Rare Review of Its Antitrust Policy

Zach Freed

August 30, 2018

In a series of hearings this fall, the Federal Trade Commission will examine whether it should be doing more to check concentrated economic power. ILSR has submitted comments to the agency that highlight the impact of concentration on independent businesses and outline the dangers of Amazon's platform power.READ MORE

6 Ways to Rein In Today’s Monopolies

Stacy Mitchell

February 16, 2018

Monopolies are strangling competition and cutting off opportunity. In this feature for The Nation, we show how to stop them.READ MORE

Further Highlights

Stacy Mitchell in The Atlantic: Democrats Were Once Small Business Champions

Charlie Thaxton

May 16, 2019

In The Atlantic, Stacy Mitchell focuses on the Democrats' forgotten role as small business champions, and on Elizabeth Warren's reclaiming of the monopoly trustbusting tradition.READ MORE

Op-Ed in Fortune: The Hidden Price of Cashless Retail

Charlie Thaxton

April 3, 2019

In Fortune, we detail the growing cashless retail trend, steps cities and states are taking to regulate it, and the ultimate effect monopoly credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard have on small businesses and the economy at large.READ MORE

The FTC is Approving a Merger that Will Help Staples and Amazon Cripple Independent Businesses

Stacy Mitchell

February 26, 2019

The FTC recently gave Staples the green light to buy one of the two wholesalers that sell to independent office supply dealers. The decision hardly made a blip in the news cycle. But it sheds enormous insight into the origins of the big-get-bigger U.S. economy.READ MORE

In Book Review for Washington Monthly, Stacy Mitchell on "The Truth About Big Business"

Stacy Mitchell

July 24, 2018

In the July-August issue of "Washington Monthly" magazine, ILSR's Stacy Mitchell rebuts a new book's claims that the monopolization of the U.S. economy is a good thing. As she does so, Stacy also mounts a vigorous counter-argument, explaining how economic policy has tilted the playing field in favor of bigness, but how small businesses perform critical functions that big businesses can't.READ MORE

With Antitrust Ruling, Supreme Court Underscores Need for New Anti-Monopoly Movement

Stacy Mitchell

June 29, 2018

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in the case Ohio v. American Express makes even more clear the importance of the growing movement of citizens and elected officials to restore U.S. antitrust laws to their original strength and purpose, and to tackle the power of Big Tech head-on through new policies.READ MORE

In The Nation: Amazon Doesn’t Just Want to Dominate the Market—It Wants to Become the Market

Stacy Mitchell

February 15, 2018

Stacy's Mitchell's cover feature for The Nation looks at how Amazon is a radically new kind of monopoly with ambitions that dwarf those of earlier empires, and what we should do about it.READ MORE

The Rise and Fall of the Word 'Monopoly' in American Life

Stacy Mitchell

June 20, 2017

In this piece for The Atlantic, ILSR's Stacy Mitchell looks at the history of the anti-monopoly movement in the U.S. — and how today, as economic concentration soars, monopoly could again be just the word we need.READ MORE

To Beat Retail Monopolies, We Need to Shed Our Consumer Identity

Stacy Mitchell

December 7, 2006

A growing number of communities are fighting back against the rising power of large retail stores like Wal-Mart. But real change won't come until we stop thinking of ourselves as consumers and start thinking of ourselves as engaged citizens.READ MORE

Audio & Video

Democratizing Antitrust with Harry First (Episode 91)

Zach Freed

February 6, 2020

Host Stacy Mitchell talks with Harry First about how competition policy has become captured by technocratic lawyers and economists, and strayed from its roots as a political movement for economic justice.READ MORE

Watch Frontline Documentary on Amazon's Reign Over Us — Featuring ILSR's Research & Interviews with Stacy Mitchell

Susan Holmberg

February 4, 2020

FRONTLINE has drawn on ILSR’s research and interviews with co-director Stacy Mitchell to create a powerful documentary on the reign of Amazon.READ MORE

How to Reclaim Antitrust for Working People with Sanjukta Paul (Episode 87)

Hibba Meraay

December 12, 2019

Host Stacy Mitchell is joined by Sanjukta Paul, law professor and antitrust and labor expert. They delve into how antitrust laws have been used to hamper the efforts of workers and unions while corporations get a blank check.READ MORE

Matt Stoller on Monopoly Power and Democracy (Episode 83)

Hibba Meraay

October 17, 2019

Host Stacy Mitchell is joined by Matt Stoller, fellow at the Open Markets Institute, for a conversation about Matt's new book Goliath: The 100 Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy. READ MORE

Is Congress Starting to Take Antitrust Seriously? (Episode 79)

Hibba Meraay

August 22, 2019

Building Local Power Host Zach Freed is joined by ILSR's Stacy Mitchell to discuss the team's most recent efforts in fighting monopolies.READ MORE

Australian National Radio Talks With Stacy Mitchell about America's Anti-Monopoly History and Big Tech

Stacy Mitchell

June 25, 2019

ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell was featured on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's radio news program Rear Vision for an episode on monopoly power in America.READ MORE

On WNYC's On the Media, Stacy Mitchell Talks Antitrust's Past and Future

Zach Freed

November 21, 2018

ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell appeared as a guest on the WNYC radio program On The Media for a segment entitled “Making America Antitrust Again.” Stacy talked with host Brooke Gladstone about our country’s history of breaking up big corporations, the rise of Amazon, and where our growing anti-monopoly movement is headed.READ MORE

Understanding Media Monopolies with Laura Flanders (Episode 45)

Nick Stumo-Langer

May 3, 2018

In this episode of the Building Local Power podcast, ILSR co-director and Community-Scaled Economy initiative director Stacy Mitchell sits down with Laura Flanders to discuss the disturbing trend toward a calcified and monopolistic media landscape.READ MORE

Why Aren't Wages Rising? The Answer Sounds a Lot Like Monopoly (Episode 42)

Nick Stumo-Langer

March 22, 2018

Marshall Steinbaum, a labor economist and research director at the Roosevelt Institute, sits down with Stacy Mitchell to discuss what is keeping American's wages low and the prevalence of monopsony in our economy.READ MORE

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Monopoly Power

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Recent

Reports

Federal Antitrust Advocacy

Further Highlights

Audio & Video

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