Barry C. Lynn Promotes Neo-Brandeisian Antitrust Views

Barry C. Lynn wrote in Harper’s two years ago that he helped set in motion a revolution aimed at rebuilding liberal democracy in the United States. Lynn serves as executive director of the Open Markets Institute. He has stated that monopoly is the central political-economic problem of the time and has linked corporate consolidation to inequality, the rise of the radical right, racism, homophobia, attacks on reproductive choice, and the collapse of news media.

Lynn began forming these arguments while working as a business journalist in the 1990s and early 2000s. He focused on Walmart’s leverage over suppliers and later shifted attention to Amazon and Facebook. In 2011 he launched the Open Markets program at the New America Foundation.

The program developed into a comprehensive worldview that frames American history as a struggle against monopolization. Lynn identifies Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, and former President Biden as figures aligned with anti-monopoly efforts. He identifies Alexander Hamilton, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Robert Bork as figures who advanced opposing approaches.

Lynn has argued that antitrust policy should place more economic and political power in the hands of small-business owners. He has stated that most prices are arbitrary and political and has supported price controls. He has compared the field of economics to Lysenkoism and described it as a form of madness.

Lynn met with an Atlantic reporter in March at an office near the Treasury Department. He stated that his faction has largely won the intellectual debate and that remaining opponents are paid to disagree.