Openness to international trade and adoption of antitrust laws can both curb anticompetitive behavior. But scholars have long debated the relationship between the two. Some argue that greater openness to trade makes antitrust laws unnecessary, while others contend that antitrust laws are still needed to realize the benefits of trade liberalization. Limitations of data have made this debate largely theoretical to date. We study the relationship between trade and antitrust regimes empirically using new data on antitrust laws and enforcement activities. We find that openness to trade and stringency of antitrust laws are positively correlated from 1950 to 2010 overall, but the positive correlation disappears in the early 1990s as a large number of countries adopt antitrust laws. However, we find a positive correlation between openness to trade and resources and activities for antitrust enforcement for both early and late adopters of antitrust regimes during this period.

中文翻译：

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贸易开放与反托拉斯法

开放国际贸易和通过反托拉斯法都可以遏制反竞争行为。但是长期以来，学者们一直在争论两者之间的关系。一些人认为，更大程度的贸易开放使反托拉斯法变得不必要，而另一些人则认为，仍然需要反托拉斯法来实现贸易自由化的好处。迄今为止，数据的局限性使得这场辩论在很大程度上是理论上的。我们使用有关反托拉斯法和执法活动的新数据，根据经验研究贸易与反托拉斯制度之间的关系。我们发现，从1950年到2010年，贸易的开放程度和反托拉斯法的严格程度总体上呈正相关，但随着许多国家采用反托拉斯法，这种正相关在1990年代初就消失了。然而，