Abstract
The notion of robust political economy is applied to antitrust. It is argued that the universalizability of policy rules is crucial if both the knowledge problem and the incentive problem in antitrust are taken seriously. Policy recommendations of Williamson are compared with those of Hayek. It is further argued that the notion of universalizability is central not only with regard to antitrust but also with regard to a host of other policy areas.
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JEL Code B52, B53, D02, D80, K21, K40, L40.
The author thanks his collaborators Lorenz Blume, Kim Eun Young, Janina Satzer and Michael Seebauer as well as Anne van Aaken for helpful comments and suggestions.