An economist calls America’s beef industry a “miracle.” An antitrust scholar calls it “broken.” Maybe they’re both right?&nbsp;<ul><li>SOURCES:<ul><li><a href="https://www.austinfrerick.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Austin Frerick</a>, agriculture antitrust expert, fellow at Yale University, author of Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry.</li><li><a href="https://king-ranch.com/king-ranch-names-robert-hodgen-new-ceo/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Robert Hodgen</a>, C.E.O. of King Ranch.</li><li><a href="https://www.rogerhorowitz.com/about-roger.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Roger Horowitz</a>, food historian, director of the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library.</li><li><a href="https://experts.okstate.edu/derrell.peel" rel="noopener noreferrer">Derrell Peel</a>, Charles Breedlove Professorship of Agribusiness in the department of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University.</li></ul></li></ul>&nbsp;<ul><li>RESOURCES:<ul><li>"<a href="https://www.beefmagazine.com/market-news/the-hamburger-story" rel="noopener noreferrer">The hamburger story</a>," by Derrell Peel (Beef, 2026).</li><li>"<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/29/business/beef-imports-tariffs-trump" rel="noopener noreferrer">Trump is letting in 300,000 tons of beef duty-free. Don’t expect cheaper burgers,</a>" by Elisabeth Buchwald (CNN, 2026).</li><li>"<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/doj-probes-soaring-beef-prices-at-eight-major-stores-including-walmart-12393757" rel="noopener noreferrer">DOJ Probes Soaring Beef Prices at Eight Major Stores Including Walmart</a>," by Hugh Cameron (Newsweek, 2026).</li><li>"<a href="https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2025/02/24/takeaways-from-the-pause-on-foreign-corrupt-practices-act-enforcement/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Takeaways from the Pause on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement</a>," by Brendan Quigley, Bridget Moore, Kyle Clark, and Baker Botts (Harvard Law School, 2025).</li><li>"<a href="https://businesslawreview.uchicago.edu/print-archive/tyson-and-leviathan-usda-rulemaking-and-psa-harm-competition-requirement" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tyson and Leviathan: USDA Rulemaking and the PSA Harm to Competition Requirement</a>," by Spencer James Parts (University of Chicago Business Review, 2022).</li><li>"<a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000FC1101" rel="noopener noreferrer">Average Price: All Uncooked Ground Beef (Cost per Pound/453.6 Grams) in U.S. City Average</a>," (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis).</li></ul></li></ul>&nbsp;<ul><li>EXTRAS:<ul><li>"<a href="https://freakonomics.com/podcast/an-economics-lesson-from-a-talking-pencil-update/" rel="noopener noreferrer">An Economics Lesson from a Talking Pencil (Update)</a>," by Freakonomics Radio (2025).</li><li>"<a href="https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-future-of-meat/" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Future of Meat</a>," by Freakonomics Radio (2019).</li></ul></li></ul> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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