Hayek on Monopoly and Antitrust in the Crucible of United States v. Microsoft
Abstract: Hayek took great care in his political writings over many decades to insist that he was no doctrinaire advocate of laissez faire. Of the many exceptions that he made to the ideology of limited government, his theory of monopoly and antitrust is perhaps the most perplexing. This article examines Hayek’s theory of antitrust to see whether it satisfies his own standard for the “rule of law,” and, furthermore, whether it provides a coherent test of the legitimacy of antitrust litigation of the type brought by the Department of Justice and the states against Microsoft.
