How did the sherman anti-trust act of 1890 affect the u. s. economy?

Sherman Antitrust Act. A federal law passed in 1890 that committed the American government to opposing monopolies. The law prohibits contracts, combinations, or conspiracies “in the restraint of trade or commerce.” Also known as competition laws, made by the U.S. Government to protect consumers predatory business practices by ensuring that fair competition exists in an open-market economy. 4 provisions against agreements in restraint of trade, monopolization, anticompetitive mergers, and the around in Patman Act bans price discrimination.

Explanation: this laws were made in order to create a better ennvironment for competion. One company that was compelled to stick to this law was Standard Oil Corporation. By 1890, Standard Oil controlled 88 percent of the refined oil flows in the United States. The state of Ohio successfully sued Standard, compelling the dissolution of the trust in 1892. But Standard simply separated Standard Oil of Ohio and kept control of it. Actually, the company abode the law since this law was intended not to penalize success but discourage monopoly. All of the effects of these laws are difficult to evaluate and some scholars are in favor of them and others are against them because they think that monopoly is very hard to find in real life since companies have to fight for the consumer's dollar.