Monopoly Power

Featured

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

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

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

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

Statement: Stimulus Bill Doesn't Do Enough to Save Small Businesses, Will Accelerate Corporate Concentration

Jess Del Fiacco

March 26, 2020

The stimulus bill will dramatically accelerate corporate concentration. It opens up a massive spigot of easy cash for the largest corporations, while consigning small businesses to a slow and cumbersome process of applying for loans from a limited pool of funds. READ MORE

In-Depth

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

The U.S. is much less a nation of entrepreneurs than it was a generation ago. In this report, which won an award for antitrust scholarship in 2017, we suggest that the decline of small businesses is owed, at least in part, to anticompetitive behavior by large, dominant corporations. The report presents three reasons to bring a commitment to fair markets for small businesses back into antitrust policy, and concludes by outlining specific steps to do just that.READ MORE

Federal Antitrust Watch

Amazon Faces Sharp Questions about Its Market Power before House Judiciary Committee; ILSR's Stacy Mitchell Testifies

Stacy Mitchell

July 15, 2019

On Tuesday, July 16, Stacy Mitchell testified on Amazon's market power before the House Judiciary Committee for a hearing on the monopoly power of big tech 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

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

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

Further Highlights

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

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

Longform 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

Independent Pharmacies are on the Front Lines of COVID-19 Care (Episode 97)

Jess Del Fiacco

April 9, 2020

Host Zach Freed speaks with Jim Hrncir, owner of Las Colinas Pharmacy in Irving, Texas. Zach and Jim discuss how independent pharmacies are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.READ MORE

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

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

See our resources on Amazon. Read more

Monopoly Power

Featured

In-Depth

Federal Antitrust Watch

Further Highlights

Audio & Video

Related