Antitrust law and administrability: Consumer versus total welfare

This article analyses critically the debate over which is the correct welfare standard. Taking the explicit position that the choice between total welfare and consumer welfare is a political one, the focus is on their relative administrability. On that narrow criterion, neither is superior. Indeed, both have been relaxed so that they are capable of being applied in real-world contexts. This demonstrates that administrability is a core normative value underpinning antitrust law and policy.