Antitrust and the Infinite, Circular Supply Chain

Supply chains are fundamental to antitrust because no firm can exclude competitors without denying them access to inputs. But this does not mean that antitrust policy can reduce inflation caused by supply chain disruption or effectively redistribute wealth between different levels of a supply chain. Competitive markets do not eliminate profits — or price increases — that are due to scarcity rather than monopoly. In any case, it is impossible to introduce competitive pricing into every link i