The Arc of Monopoly: A Case Study in Computing

The world we live in today is defined by three great arcs. The first is the world of semiconductors and the innovation characterized by Moore’s law, the second is the creation of ubiquitous wireless access, and the third is the emergence of the internet platform. In that context, this Essay looks at government claims of monopolization in telecommunications and computing by considering past antitrust actions against AT&T, IBM, and Microsoft. Early antitrust actions against AT&T and IBM of course long predated the rise of the Chicago School, but later actions against AT&T and IBM overlapped that rise as did the antitrust actions against Microsoft.

These antitrust actions intersected with and influenced these three arcs, though teasing out the precise nature of that influence is ultimately quite tricky.