Abstract

Antitrust and social justice (J.e.l.: I31; K21; K23; L12; L13; L40) In the last years economists, political scientists, legal scholars, and the antitrust case law have shown that the implementation of competition rules can not only ensure equal chances to undertakings and guarantees to consumers, but also contribute to reducing inequalities and social injustice. It is a sort of return to the very origins of the American antitrust, when the Sherman Act of 1890 was presented as a statute that could fight against the devastating effects caused by the market power of big industrial groups for both the economic and the democratic process. The European and Italian case law seems to follow this path mainly in the administrative decisions and in the judgments concerning the pharmaceutical sector, big data and public utilities.