Literary theory 4.0: The antitrust books you should have read in 2022

Now in its fourth year, it’s fair to call the list of ‘antitrust books you should’ve read last year’ a tradition. After three years of unusually full publication calendars, 2022 saw antitrust publishing slow down just a bit. But I’ve always compiled these lists based on the idea that the best antitrust books do not have to concern antitrust—at least not directly, so there were still plenty of candidates.

Last year saw the publication of two books that relate to antitrust’s hottest market: gaming. Along with other authorities, the European Commission took an in-depth look at Microsoft/Activision-Blizzard (arguably the largest tech acquisition ever), the appellate trial in Epic v Apple has been building, and the Competition & Markets Authority is investigating the cloud gaming market —to name a few of the developments. The Metaverse by Matthew Ball and Influence Empire by Lulu Yilun Chen provide the background needed to make sense of it all.

Next, I move from antitrust’s hottest market to two books that are more directly related to the practice of antitrust: Direct by Kathryn Judge and The New Goliaths by James Bessen. Another book that is not reviewed here but cannot go unmentioned is How Big-Tech Barons Smash Innovation—and How to Strike Back by Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice Stucke. Ever since Virtual Competition, the writers’ duo has been on every antitrust lawyer’s radar, but in the interest of ‘contestability’ (increasingly a concern in competition policy —and one that is shared by the authors), I’m putting the spotlight on other books this year.