Satellite Sisters

Jim Surowiecki describes how the “Chicago School” of economists revolutionized anti-trust thinking in the 1970s. By arguing that it is not the number of competitors but rather their strength that mattered, these economists posited that some mergers stimulate competition.

Their theory may have laid the ground for the seemingly unlikely regulatory approval of the XM/Sirius merger. Surowiecki concludes, “Sometimes, it seems, you can have fewer competitors but more competition.“ (More Mel Karmazin stories.)