Antitrust policy primarily aims to which of the following?

• A. Regulating all small businesses.
• B. Preventing monopolies and promoting competition.
• C. Encouraging monopolies.
• D. Setting wage standards for workers.

Answer: (B)

Antitrust policy aims to preserve competitive markets by preventing the concentration of economic power in a single firm or a small group, and by promoting competition among many firms. When competition stays robust, prices tend to be lower, quality and innovation improve, and consumers have more choices. Antitrust tools focus on stopping harmful mergers, preventing anti-competitive agreements like price fixing, and enforcing rules that keep markets open for new entrants. This makes preventing monopolies and fostering competition the best description of the goal. Regulating all small businesses isn’t what antitrust does, encouraging monopolies would harm consumer welfare, and setting wage standards falls under labor policy rather than antitrust.