US competition law faces new challenge

A young academic is challenging the effectiveness of US competition law in controlling the rise of a new generation of corporations, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

Lina Khan is a young woman with a mission. Earlier this year, the expert in anti-trust (competition)law published a lengthy article in the Yale Law Journal in which she identified serious flaws in US competition law enforcement, flaws which have allowed a new generation of technology companies to amass financial and commercial power of an unparalleled nature.

America has a strong tradition of ‘cartel busting’. In the past, its legislatures, both State and national, have not be been slow to take on monopolistic entities such as Standard Oil , or the big steel companies.