Abstract

This chapter considers the economic history of competition policy in the United States. The discussion is organized around five historical moments: the pre-1880 period; the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1887; the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890; the rise of municipally owned utilities and state utility commissions during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; and the privatization and deregulation movement of the 1970s and 1980s.