Why Matthew Yglesias Is Skeptical Of Anti-Monopoly Policies

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Dec 4, 2025

Matthew Yglesias, journalist and co-founder of Vox, discusses the pitfalls of modern anti-monopoly policies. He critiques recent proposals like capping beer prices at stadiums, arguing such measures lead to higher ticket prices and inefficiencies. Yglesias warns against politicized antitrust actions, advocating for a rigorous economic analysis. He emphasizes the need for antitrust to prioritize consumers over small businesses and debates the complexities of platform economics, stressing the importance of addressing underlying market issues rather than relying solely on antitrust.

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INSIGHT

Price Caps Can Backfire

Stadium concession price caps shift revenue into higher ticket prices and can cause non-price rationing like smaller sizes or longer lines.
Matthew Yglesias argues complementary goods make simplistic price caps ineffective as a consumer-protection tool.

ANECDOTE

Family History With Price Controls

Matthew Yglesias recalls his grandfather working in the Office of Price Administration during WWII to illustrate when price controls make sense.
He argues price controls are appropriate in emergencies, not for routine consumer goods like stadium beer.

INSIGHT

Two-Sided Markets Need Hard Analysis

Two-sided platform economics are complex and theory alone can't determine whether extractive fees harm consumers.
Matthew Yglesias urges rigorous, credible research before concluding how platforms like Amazon affect prices.

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A recent proposal by Lina Khan, co-chair of Zohran Mamdani's mayoral transition team, to cap the price of beer at stadiums in New York City sparked a debate on X last month. At the center of that debate was Matthew Yglesias, editor and author of the Slow Boring newsletter, who argued that the modern antitrust movement has become "slipshod" and is ignoring basic economic trade-offs in favor of political wins.

In this episode, Yglesias joins Luigi and Bethany to discuss his views on the theoretical and practical limitations of the "Neo-Brandeisian" approach to antitrust. He contends that proposals like price caps for complementary goods like stadium concessions reveals a lack of economic rigor, arguing that such measures often result in higher ticket prices rather than consumer savings . He suggests that the movement increasingly attempts to use antitrust law as a universal tool for societal grievances.

Bethany and Luigi debate Yglesias on the limits of this modern anti-monopoly movement, arguing that he sounds like a "Chicago economist circa 1970" who assumes markets are always efficient and rational. From the lobbying might of the banking industry to the extractive fees of Amazon, Luigi argues that economic concentration inevitably morphs into political power. He posits that even if consolidated industries remain price-efficient, their size allows for the capture of the regulatory process—citing the banking and tobacco industries as historical precedents.

Of course, antitrust enforcement isn't the only proposal on the table to address people's concerns about price levels, as the current excitement around the "affordability" and "abundance" movements demonstrate. But Yglesias argues neither abundance, affordability nor antitrust is going to drive down nominal prices. As he puts it: the only thing that could do that is “a catastrophic depression…but that's not going to make people happier".

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