Antitrust in Ancient Rome and Kamala Harris’ Proposed Ban on Price Gouging
In her first economic speech as a presidential candidate, Kamala Harris promised to introduce a federal prohibition on price gouging within the food industry. She argued that despite improvements in supply chains, prices have not returned to pre-pandemic levels and that “
any big food companies are experiencing their highest profits for two decades”[m]; she called on the government to take action when businesses do not follow the rules. Emphasising her experience, she pointed to her track record in antitrust enforcement as Attorney General in California going after “companies that illegally increased prices” or “conspired with competitors to keep prices high”.[1]Against this background, the proposed ban on price gouging bears notable similarity to what has often been considered some of the earliest precursors to modern antitrust legislation. The Roman Lex Iulia de Annona, which was written two millennia before, penalised partnerships that aimed to increase the price of grain, and more generally, actions that were detrimental to the public supply. The majority of grain consumed by Rome was produced in Egypt
). Zeno, the Roman Emperor five hundred years after the first known prohibition of monopolies and restrictive business practices, introduced the first general prohibition. This similarity is not surprising, as restrictive trade practices are as ancient as trade itself. They represent nothing more than the attempts of intelligent men to interfere, to their own advantage, or that of the industry in which they are engaged, with the free working of supply and demand and with the results of competition.”[2] Further, as the essential consumer goods par excellence, basic food staples generally have a very low elasticity of demand. Food is the one product that consumers cannot give up, no matter what. This was also alluded to by Kamala Harris, claiming that food prices are among “the high costs that matter most to most Americans”.[3]Kamala Harris described her goal as “help[4] the food industry become more competitive”, based on her belief that “competition is the lifeblood of our economy. More competition means lower prices”. These quotes, along with the earlier reference to Kamala Harris’ work as Attorney-General in California, show that she does not view her proposed ban on food price gouging as a mere sector regulation, but rather as part of the broader context of competition law. Not really. Lex Iulia de Annona benefited primarily public authorities and not consumers. After several crises that directly affected the cost of living in recent years, the food industry is clearly back in the spotlight. The fact that the word competition is used twice as much in the Democratic Party platform for 2024 as its 2020 counterpart (9 times compared to 18 times) also supports this. My plan will include new sanctions for opportunistic businesses that exploit crises or break the rules. We will also support smaller food businesses who are trying to follow the rules and succeed. This bill would give the FTC the authority to enforce more detailed rules, and allow individual states to sue if they are violated. The author writes as a private individual. The views expressed are solely those of the author and cannot be seen as representing in any way those of the European Commission.[5]
For this and all following quotes of Kamala Harris’ speech, see https://abcnews.go.com/US/video/harris-unveils-economic-agenda-cracking-price-gouging-112902258[r], timestamp 7:20 to 10:20.[6] See Digest 48.12.2 (Ulpianus 9 de off. procons. Watson, The Digest of Justinian Vol. The lex Julia on corn supply, p. 345, states: “The lex Julia on corn supply lays out a penalty for a man who does anything prejudicial to corn supply or enters into a business partnership with the intent of raising the price of corn supply. The same statute also states that no one may delay a ship, a master of a vessel or do anything maliciously to delay them.
“.[ing] ibid.
See in detail Erdkamp, The grain market in the Roman Empire. 143-237; Hobenreich, Annona. Juristische Aspekte der stadtromischen Lebensmittelversorgung im Prinzipat, pp. 50-51 Rickman, The corn supplies of Ancient Rome, 101-134.[7] For an English translation, see Blume/Frier’s The Codex of Justinian. A New Annotated Translation, with parallel Latin and Greek texts, pp. [8]”.
Wilberforce/Campbell/Elles, The law of restrictive trade practices and monopolies, 2nd edition, p. 2.[9] See, inter alia, v. Brunn, Vom Kartellrecht der Romer, in: Lehmann (ed. [10]”.[11]
Wilberforce/Campbell/Elles, The law of restrictive trade practices and monopolies, 2nd edition, p. 2.
See, inter alia, v. Brunn, Vom Kartellrecht der Romer, in: Lehmann (ed. ), Recht und Wirtschaft. Festschrift fur Justus Wilhelm Hedemann, pp. 48-49, 51, 54-56; Hobenreich, Annona, pp. 163.
[1] See in detail Erdkamp’s The Grain Market of the Roman Empire. 240-257; Hobenreich, Annona, pp. See Kamala Harris, Democratic National Convention Acceptance Speech, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/23/us/politics/kamala-harris-speech-transcript.html.
[2] See Jeffrey May, Consumer Protection News: Harris proposes ban on price gouging in food/grocery industry (Aug 16, 2024), available at https 156-197; on the broader legal framework for the supply chains, see Sirks, Food for Rome.[…] See The Verge, The Democratic platform is doubling down on tech antitrust and kids online safety, available at https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/21/24224676/democratic-platform-2024-tech-antitrust-kids-safety
[3].
[4] Kamala Harris, Democratic National Convention Acceptance Speech, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/23/us/politics/kamala-harris-speech-transcript.html
[5].[…] See Jeffrey May, Consumer Protection News: Harris proposes ban on price gouging in food/grocery industry (Aug 16, 2024), available at https://www.vitallaw.com/news/consumer-protection-news-harris-proposes-ban-on-price-gouging-in-food%2Fgrocery-industry/ald01cd540551149b4922b091051b84a79349
[6]; see further US Senate, bill S.3803, available at https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/3803
[7]; US House of Representatives, bill H.R.7390, available at https://trackbill.com/bill/us-congress-house-bill-7390-price-gouging-prevention-act-of-2024/2519647/
[8].
[9]
