Prof. Naomi Lamoreaux, 'Monopolies in U.S. History: From Standard Oil to Google'

Guess who's back!It's the first Cambridge American History Seminar Podcast of 2019, and a great one to start the year with! Naomi Lamoreaux, the visiting Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions at the University of Cambridge, and the Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics and History at Yale University, talks to Lewis Defrates about her paper 'Monopolies in U.S. History: From Standard Oil to Google'.Touching on historical debates going back to the 19th century, the paper explores the changing politics and policy around regulating monopolies and anticompetitive business practice in the United States right up to the current day. We talk about the role of 'innovation' in mediating antitrust behaviour, from the meatpacking industry to Google, and the impact of these authorities on the economy in the years since the days of Standard Oil.We also touched on answering different questions for economists and historians, being influenced Robert Post's work on the problem of prohibition in the Supreme Court, and jazz!Feel free to get in touch via @camericanist on Twitter or [email protected] if you have any questions, suggestions or feedback for the future. Spread the word, and thanks for listening!