Antitrust in an Age of New Modes of Economic Organization

Overview & Synopsis

Antitrust law has historically adapted to technological and managerial innovations. Today we are at another inflection point. Antitrust needs to open its framework to enable the functioning of two hybrid modes of organization: innovation networks and decentralized autonomous organizations (‘DAOs’). These modes of organization do not fit anti-trust’s vision of the firm — the large, vertically-integrated, managerially-directed enterprise. This is problematic, because in defining its vision of the firm, antitrust law also indirectly defines the scope of legal coordination. Given their collaborative nature and their inability to benefit from the ‘firm’ label, these modes of organization risk running afoul of anti-trust’s prohibition of coordinated action. The chapter discusses two legal interventions for enabling their functioning. First, an unorthodox expansion of anti-trust’s concept of the firm. Second, recognizing these hybrid forms as organizational alternatives to firms and enabling their function subject to ex ante approval akin to the merger control framework.