Abstract

The article analyses the tension between the two commitments to free competition as embodied in Section 2 of the Sherman Act. As it is well known, it embodies a commitment to markets free of domination by private economic power in line with the ideal model of perfect competition. In the same vein, it expresses a commitment to markets free of government intervention according to the principle of an unfettered freedom of contract. In this perspective, the paper maps the current Supreme Court's view of monopolization and its founding faith in self-correcting markets; moreover, after having provided a critical sketch on the recent Weyerhauser and Linkline cases, it is assessed skepticism towards the totalizing self-correcting markets virtues, concluding with some observations about the future of monopolization policy.