America's richest companies are using the pandemic as an excuse to jack up prices
Could corporate collusion be driving many of the price hikes we're witnessing today? Since enforcement is only a slap on the wrist, firms certainly have the incentive to collude. But due to the lack of funding for regulators, it's impossible to know for sure how much inflation is being caused by collusion., without evidence, that illegal anticompetitive conduct"is at most a minor cause of the recent surge in inflation.
The White House has responded to this moment, in part, by calling out obviously illegal profiteering and pushing to inject competitiveness back into industries where it has decayed. The current efforts are essential, but it's worth remembering that the main benefit of vigorous antitrust enforcement is preventative — to deter anticompetitive conduct from arising in the first place. Typically, the benefits of strong antitrust enforcement are only noticed by consumers in the long run.
Over the long term, there are many steps the US should undertake to combat anticompetitive conduct.
Given the complex nature of our economy, it may be years before we know the extent to which companies recently have inflated prices illegally or were able to take advantage of the current market conditions to ratchet up prices to rake in even higher profits. But if the question is,"Does increased concentration, and the anticompetitive and illegal corporate conduct it facilitates, help drive inflation?" The answer has to be a resounding"of course.