Monopoly

Featured

New Report: Boxed Out

September 22, 2022

Powerful retailers are killing off small businesses by dominating supply chains. It’s time to revive the Robinson-Patman Act and restore antitrust enforcement against predatory buying.READ MORE

WATCH: Midwest Forum on Fair Markets

Reggie Rucker

September 22, 2022

Co-hosted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Open Markets Institute, this is the antimonopoly, pro-democracy event you don't want to miss!READ MORE

Stacy Mitchell Keynotes the Launch of The Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project

Luke Gannon

August 17, 2022

The Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project (CAMP) aims to reform Canadian competition law. For their launch event, Stacy Mitchell, a leader in the U.S. antimonopoly movement, spoke on the importance of antimonopoly to a fair and free economy and democracy.READ MORE

Report: How New Federal Antimerger Guidelines Can Roll Back Corporate Concentration and Build Local Power

Stacy Mitchell

June 29, 2022

Earlier this year the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice announced plans to revise their merger guidelines, setting the stage for a new era in antitrust regulation. ILSR's new report details how new federal antimerger guidelines can restore competition and build local power.READ MORE

Stacy Mitchell Gives Keynote Speech at the National Rural Grocery Summit: "Trustbusting Is Making a Comeback"

Luke Gannon

June 22, 2022

ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell gave a barnburner keynote address at the National Rural Grocery Summit, where she detailed how monopolistic corporations are squeezing independent businesses and farmers out of the market — and the antimonopoly comeback that is fighting to resurrect our antitrust laws.READ MORE

In Financial Times: The Innovations We Lose if We Don’t Break Up Big Tech

Susan Holmberg

February 16, 2022

In the Financial Times, Susan Holmberg details the evidence showing that in their quest to maintain dominance tech giants are in fact killing new ideas, limiting new inventions and blocking new businesses from getting a foothold.READ MORE

Recent

Inflation: The True Monopoly Story

Luke Gannon

August 25, 2022

On this episode of Building Local Power, Rakeen Mabud the Chief Economist at Groundwork Collaborative and Ron Knox, Senior Researcher and Writer at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, take us on a riveting journey exposing the story of inflation that most economists don't want to tell.READ MORE

In Times Union: NY Needs Better Laws to Deal with Monopolies

Ron Knox

May 27, 2022

Ron Knox and Katy Milani write in Times Union about how the New York 21st Century Antitrust Act would help stop the abuses of corporate titans and "return power and freedom to regular New Yorkers."READ MORE

In The American Prospect: Monopoly on Tap

Luke Gannon

May 25, 2022

The beer industry is in the midst of an unprecedented economic shift, with rapid consolidation and rampant monopoly power threatening our favorite local breweries. Ron Knox writes in The American Prospect how Reyes, the largest beer distributor in America, has bought its way to dominance.READ MORE

Report: Why the 21st Century Antitrust Act is Critical for New York Small Businesses

Katy Milani

May 19, 2022

In New York, rampant market power is endangering the economic dynamism that New York small businesses generate. State lawmakers have the opportunity to build a more level playing field for small businesses by passing the 21st Century Antitrust Act. Our report, published with New Yorkers for a Fair Economy, illustrates why this legislation will strengthen the economic vitality of communities across the state.READ MORE

Issue Brief: Handcuffed by the Courts

Ron Knox

March 8, 2022

Beginning in the late 1970s, a series of Supreme Court cases upended U.S. antitrust laws — laws that were once the linchpin of a comprehensive, democratic check on corporate power. This issue brief traverses the history and argues that Congress must take action to undo these pro-monopoly decisions.READ MORE

In-Depth Articles & Reports

In The American Prospect: Why Congress Must End America’s Merger Free-for-All

Luke Gannon

October 28, 2021

Senior Research Ron Knox writes in The American Prospect about how decades of unchecked mergers has killed jobs, suppressed wages, and smothered independent businesses. With Lina Khan and DOJ nominee Jonathon Kanter, there is newfound hope to overhaul current merger laws. But Congress must act to end America’s merger free-for-all.READ MORE

In The Washington Post: How Washington Got Back Into Trustbusting

Susan Holmberg

June 25, 2021

After decades of a misguided approach to antitrust policy, Washington has a new antimonopoly fervor, writes Senior Researcher Ron Knox.READ MORE

In Wired: Big Music Needs to Be Broken Up to Save the Industry

Susan Holmberg

March 16, 2021

Ron Knox explains how consolidation in the music industry, like the pandemic, has been disastrous for artists. The monopolization of three chokepoints in the distribution of music — record labels, streaming, and live venues — is making it impossible for the broad “middle class” of artists to reach listeners.READ MORE

In ProMarket: How the FTC Protected the Market Power of Pharmacy Benefit Managers

Stacy Mitchell

February 19, 2021

The FTC has long protected the power of a few dominant drug middlemen, like CVS, to crush local pharmacies and fleece Medicaid programs. In this ProMarket piece, Stacy Mitchell and Zach Freed look at how the FTC not only failed to act — but worked to stop states from doing so.READ MORE

In Civil Eats: The Peanut Industry Has a Monopoly Problem

Ron Knox

January 29, 2021

Monopoly power in the peanut industry has pushed thousands of small farmers to the brink of bankruptcy. It has also made peanuts more expensive to taxpayers than any other crop in the country.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

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: 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

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

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

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

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

Audio & Video

Corporations Rake in Subsidies at Communities' Expense — Episode 148 of Building Local Power

Jess Del Fiacco

April 7, 2022

On this episode of the Building Local Power Podcast, Jess Del Fiacco is joined by Stacy Mitchell and Arlene Martínez who discuss the use of nondisclosure agreements, the acceleration of mega-deals during the pandemic, and what true economic development looks like. READ MORE

Listen: How Corporate Mergers Undermine Labor Rights

Luke Gannon

March 3, 2022

Ron Knox was featured on The Heartland Labor Forum on KKFI, where he discussed his recent reporting detailing how corporate mergers helped create monopolies that dominate our economies and drive down workers’ wages. READ MORE

On Pitchfork Economics: How Walmart Gutted Communities

Luke Gannon

October 28, 2021

Stacy Mitchell joins Pitchfork Economics to explain how policies drove the rise of Walmart and Amazon, and the urgency of the antitrust movement.READ MORE

Listen: Big Music Should Be On The Antitrust Agenda

Luke Gannon

October 5, 2021

Ron Knox joined WVON’s The Morning Show to jam about monopoly power in the music industry, which is preventing independent streaming platforms from competing and hurting artists.READ MORE

Listen: Hardware Group Says Big Tech Bills are an Urgent Opportunity for Small Businesses

Susan Holmberg

August 5, 2021

ILSR's Stacy Mitchell joined Dan Tratensek of the North American Hardware and Paint Association to talk about the momentum in Washington, and at the local level, to level the playing field for small business.READ MORE

Congressional Testimony: How Concentrated Corporate Power Undermines Shared Prosperity

Katy Milani

July 14, 2021

ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell testified before the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee on Wednesday, July 14th. She spoke about how the U.S. has abandoned its antimonopoly policies, which has undermined independent businesses and the vital role they play in our economy and democracy.READ MORE

Listen to Ron Knox on Capitol Forum's Podcast

Susan Holmberg

June 20, 2021

Senior Research Ron Knox was the featured guest on Capitol Forum's podcast, Second Request. They chatted about music industry monopolies and how to restore the music industry's middle class.READ MORE

Sen. Klobuchar Calls for Breakups in Town Hall Co-Hosted by Small Business Rising

Hannah Henderson-Charnow

June 17, 2021

"Unless you force some divestiture of assets, [monopolies are] going to just keep going the way they are... Yes, breakup[s have] to be on the table when it comes to these companies," Senator Klobuchar at a town hall event co-hosted by Small Business Rising.READ MORE

Senate Briefing Features Communities Impacted by Monopoly Power

Katy Milani

May 12, 2021

Stacy Mitchell participated in a Senate briefing with other leading experts, organizers, and impacted communities to expose the ways monopoly power poses a threat to our democracy, the health of our economy, and our country’s already severe racial disparities.READ MORE

Senate Testimony: Concentration is at the Root of Rural Distress

Katy Milani

April 27, 2021

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs invited Co-Director Stacy Mitchell to testify at its April 20th hearing on the state of the rural economy. Stacy spoke on why rural America is in crisis and attributed the widening gap between struggling rural towns and coastal supercities to the concentration of corporate and financial power.READ MORE

Our Antimonopoly Town Hall Draws Nearly 400 Small Businesses

Katy Milani

February 25, 2021

Nearly 400 people tuned into our lively town hall on February 22nd, which detailed how Amazon’s growing dominance hurts independent businesses and what Congress must do to curb monopoly power. The event featured Congressman David Cicilline, along with leading antitrust experts and small business advocates.READ MORE

How Monopolies Gained More Ground During the Pandemic

Susan Holmberg

November 30, 2020

Stacy Mitchell talks to the Strong Towns podcast about how corporate power is concentrating during the pandemic, and what it would look like if Congress broke up Big Tech.READ MORE

Monopoly

Featured

Recent

In-Depth Articles & Reports

Audio & Video

See more articles and content on monopoly.

See our research on Amazon.