The Abolition of Antitrust asserts that antitrust laws-on economic, legal, and moral grounds-are bad, and provides convincing evidence supporting arguments for their total abolition. Every year, new antitrust prosecutions arise in the U.S. courts, as in the cases against 3M and Visa/MasterCard, as well as a number of ongoing antitrust cases, such as those involving Microsoft and college football's use of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). Gary Hull and the contributing authors show that these cases-as well as the Sherman Antitrust Act itself-are based on an erroneous interpretation of the history of American business, premised on bad economics. They equivocate between economic and political power-the power to produce versus the power to use physical force. For Hull, antitrust prosecutions are based on a horrible moral inversion: that it is acceptable to sacrifi ce America's best producers. The contributors explain how key antitrust ideas, for instance, "monopoly," "restraint of trade," and "anticompetitive behavior," have been used to justify prosecution, and then make clear why those ideas are false. They sketch the historical, legal, economic, and moral reasoning that gave rise to the passage and growth of antitrust legislation. All of the theoretical points in this volume are woven around a number of fascinating cases, both historical and current-including the Charles River Bridge, Alcoa, General Electric, and Kellogg/General Mills. Designed for the uninformed but educated layman, The Abolition of Antitrust makes positive arguments in defense of wealth creation, business, and profi t, explains the proper role of government, and offers a rational view of the meaning of contract and economic freedom. AldineTransaction www.transactionpub.com ISBN: 978-1-4128-0502-5 Library of Congress: 2004058124 Printed in the U.S.A. Cover design by Ellen F. Kane "The essays in this book present a sustained economic, historical, moral, and legal broadside against the various federal statutes known as antitrust doctrine. They explode the cherished myths underlying the antitrust laws, and expose their intellectual fountainhead in a morality of self-sacrifice that is incompatible with individual rights, free enterprise, and objective law. With the publication of this text, businessmen, lawyers, economists, policymakers,legislators, and judges finally have access to a systemic critique of the antitrust laws. From here on, if antitrust continues to violate the rights of businessmen and to ravage the American economy, it is not for lack of knowing how and why."-Adam Mossoff, assistant professor of law, Michigan State University College of Law.

This book provides an introductory but thorough guide to EU competition law, covering the underlying economics, and the key substantive areas of anticompetitive agreements (Article 81), abuses of dominance (Article 82), the application to the most common types of commercial agreement, state aids, state measures limiting competition and mergers. It also examines the procedures under which the relevant competition authorities apply the rules, private enforcement of the rules before the courts, and minimising risk by implementing a compliance programme. The emphasis is practical rather than theoretical: the authors are practitioners in the field of competition law and economics, with many years' individual and collective experience in the area. This will be an essential reference tool for practitioners, academics and students of EU Competition Law.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. With technology standards becoming increasingly common, particularly in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, the complexities and contradictions at the interface of intellectual property law and competition law have emerged strongly. This book talks about how the regulatory agencies and courts in the United States, European Union and India are dealing with the rising allegations of anti-competitive behaviour by standard essential patent (SEP) holders. It also discusses the role of standards setting organizations / standards developing organizations (SSO/SDO) and the various players involved in implementing the standards that influence practices and internal dynamics in the ICT sector. This book includes discussions on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing terms and the complexities that arise when both licensors and licensees of SEPs differ on what they mean by "fair", "reasonable" and "non-discriminatory" terms. It also addresses topics such as the appropriate royalty base, calculation of FRAND rates and concerns related to FRAND commitments and the role of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in collaborative standard setting process. This book provides a wide range of valuable information and is a useful tool for graduate students, academics and researchers.

As market competition replaces state regulation in many economic fields, competition policy has become an area of increasing significance. Against this background, Suzuki highlights the importance of the domestic political structure for competition policy. He does this through the comparative analysis of competition law reforms in Britain and Japan. He argues - controversially - that a country's domestic political structure should be considered a major factor in causing the reform of competition law, and rejects the established view that it is necessarily a result of changes in international economic and political conditions.

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Economic regulation in the telecommunications sector can be performed through economy-wide instruments, such as antitrust law and antitrust authorities, or through sector-specific instruments, such as telecommunications regulation and regulatory authorities. Relying on a comparative analysis of five countries, the present book seeks to shed some light on the respective roles of both types of instruments in liberalized telecommunications markets.

Adam Smith warned of the prevalence of corporate conspiracies more than two hundred years ago. Since then, interest in cartels has sometimes intensified (during the Great Depression, for example) and sometimes diminished, but the need for control has always remained on the antitrust agenda. This well-documented book reviews the economic case against corporate collusion, as well as the arguments made for a more permissive attitude. A survey of recent empirical research reveals not only the prevalence of a wide range of international cartels but also the size of the inefficiencies and costs that they impose on customers and consumers. The antitrust reaction has therefore intensified with greatly increased fines being imposed by the US, the EU and other authorities. At the same time, they have developed sophisticated leniency polices with the aim of destabilizing the illegal conspiracies. After reviewing these measures, the author concludes with the hope that this toughened approach is not modified or reversed during periods of recession. This insightful book will appeal to undergraduates in economics, business and law studying antitrust and law and economics.

The Economic Characteristics of Developing Jurisdictions: Their Implications for Competition Law contributes to the ongoing debate over what type of competition law and policy is most suitable for developing jurisdictions. Concluding that one competition model does not fit all socio-economic contexts, the book frames an alternative vision of competition rules for developing nations. A number of different factors that influence the implementation of competition law in developing countries are analyzed, such as the content and goals of such laws, the institutional features, and the political, ideological and legal conditions that must complement law and policy. Experts in the fields of development economics and competition law discuss the key economic features that characterize most developing jurisdictions, determine how these unique characteristics influence law and policy and define how this must translate into competition law. Through this interdisciplinary exploration, the book illustrates how unique characteristics of developing jurisdictions matter when enforcing competition law. Scholars interested in development economics and law and development will find this an informative addition to the discussion surrounding competition law in developed and developing countries. Practitioners and policy makers will find practical insight into how traditional approaches to designing competition law must be revised for the future. Contributors: M. Bakhoum, M.H.A. Beigi, O. Budzinsky, I.L. De Leon, J. Drexl, S.J. Evenett, E.M. Fox, M.S. Gal, D.J. Gerber, E.M. Greco, T. Indig, D. Lewis, P. Lin, D. Petrecolla, Y. Qiao, S. Roberts, C.A. Romero, U. Schwager, J. Tapia, J.P. Vila-Martinez

In the 1970s, the Federal Trade Commission had embarked on an activist consumer protection and antitrust agenda which resulted in severe public and congressional backlash, including calls to abolish the agency. Beginning in 1981, under the direction of Chairman James Miller, the FTC started down a new path of economically-oriented policymaking. This new approach helped save the FTC and laid the groundwork for it to grow into the world-class consumer protection and antritrust agency that it is today. The Regulatory Revolution at the FTC examines this period of transition in light of continuing debate about the FTC's mission. Editor James Campbell Cooper has assembled contributions from leading economists and scholars, including many of the central figures in the Miller-era Commission and today's FTC, who provide a comprehensive and revealing story about the importance of economic analysis in regulatory decision-making. Together, they foster a crucial understanding of the evolution of the FTC from an agency on the brink of extinction to one widely respected for its performance and economic sophistication.

The question of how we can best regulate the all-important markets for legal services is rarely investigated with the benefit of good empirical evidence about what's wrong and what works. The challenge of doing empirical work in this area is steep, given a lack of data and the complexity of comparing across very different jurisdictions and legal environments. In this much-needed contribution, Frank Stephen usefully brings together a set of empirical studies and an overview of the recent regulatory reforms that have been pursued in the UK and other European jurisdictions in the past two decades. The result will help policymakers make further progress in the increasingly urgent effort to establish efficient and accessible markets for legal services worldwide.' - Gillian K. Hadfield, USC Gould School of Law, US'Frank Stephen draws on thirty years' experience of working on the regulation of the legal professions, and on several empirical studies, to provide a fascinating account of the evolving attempts to introduce competition into the supply of legal services and how such attempts have sometimes been thwarted. It also makes a major contribution to the theoretical debate on the justifications, modes and likely impacts of regulation.' - Anthony Ogus, University of Manchester, UK and University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands 'Professor Stephen's book provides a wonderfully concise, accessible and insightful review of both the theory and the empirical evidence (much of it his) on regulatory restrictions on the provision of legal services and challenges traditional arguments for the self-regulation of the legal profession. His economic/consumer welfare perspective provides a stimulating reference point in ongoing debates on the appropriate regulation of the market for legal services and the case for self-regulation, which (unlike the UK) is still very strongly espoused in North America, but under increasing scrutiny. Professor Stephen s book will intensify this scrutiny.' - Michael Trebilcock, University of Toronto, Canada Frank H. Stephen's evaluation of public policy on the legal profession in UK and European jurisdictions explores how regulation and self-regulation have been liberalized over the past 30 years. The book surveys where the most recent and radical liberalization involving the ownership of law firms by non-lawyers is likely to lead, and appraises the economic literature on the costs and benefits of regulating markets for professional services. It challenges socio-legal views on professional legislation and highlights the limitations of regulatory competition, as well as the importance of dominant business models. The author reviews the empirical work underpinning these theories and policies. He also evaluates the effectiveness of regulatory competition as a response to regulatory capture. Lawyers, Markets and Regulation will be of interest to academics focusing on professional regulation in the fields of economics and law. Lawyers, legal policymakers, competition authorities and regulators will also find the book to be an enlightening read. Contents: Preface 1. Introduction Part I: Why Do We Regulate Lawyers? 2. Why Regulate Lawyers? 3. How Lawyers are Regulated 4. Lawyers and Incentives Part II: Deregulation of Legal Markets in the UK and Europe 5. Liberalization of Legal Markets in UK and EU Jurisdictions 6. Evidence on Effects of Deregulation Part III: The Future of 'Lawyering' 7. Legal Services Act 2007 and the Promotion of Regulatory Competition 8. A Technological Revolution in 'Lawyering'? 9. Summary and Conclusions References Index

Offering a concise and critical comparison of EU competition law and US antitrust law from an economic perspective, this is the ideal textbook for international and interdisciplinary courses combining law and economic approaches. The book provides thorough coverage including the definition of market power, the use of horizontal and vertical restrictions, mergers and the unilateral conduct of dominant firms. It also includes discussion of problems relating to the enforcement of legal prohibitions, which will be of particular interest to practitioners and regulators. With analysis of leading cases of EU competition law, US antitrust law and insightful case studies of competition laws in BRIC countries, this book succinctly highlights the key information and goes further to discuss the many issues relating to the use of economic analysis. Key Features: uses economic insights to help students understand the context in which the rules of competition law are applied systematically compares EU competition law and US antitrust law, with discussion of leading cases, in order to understand how the underlying principles work in practice clear presentation, including boxes highlighting key case studies, ensures information on the competition laws of various BRIC countries is easily accessible the comparative approach and use of international case studies make this an ideal textbook for students in any jurisdiction.

Law, Liberty, and the Competitive Market brings the clash between law and legislation to the attention of economists and political scientists. It fills a void and offers a series of texts that have not previously been translated into English. This anthology connects various articles by Leoni on economics and law with the objective of emphasizing how much Leoni's own theory in the juridical environment was influenced by reflection on authors of the Austrian school--from Carl Menger to Ludwig von Mises, from Friedrich von Hayek to Murray N. Rothbard.The essays dealing with economics help us understand how many of Leoni's positions were libertarian. A careful reader of Mises, Leoni often ends up by assuming positions that are even more anti-state than those of the Austrian economist (concerning monopolies, for example). It is significant that in the 1960s his thought was influenced by Rothbard. The very critiques that he addresses to normativism and to analytical philosophy contain strong ideological elements, as they move from the awareness that legal positivism leads to statism and philosophical relativism to acquiescence in the face of power.Studying the market economy, Leoni perceives opposition between spontaneous order and planning. In this way, he understands how such a contrast is significant for the origins of norms. Leoni's idea of a law able to protect individual liberty has its roots in the market. Thus, the market is at the same time the model he uses to conceive the legal order and an institution fundamental for the service of civilization, which the law is called to protect. This is an important work by a figure only now being recognized as a pioneer in the field of economics and an innovator in political theory.

Private Enforcement of Antitrust Law in the United States is a comprehensive Handbook, providing a detailed, step-by-step examination of the private enforcement process, as illuminated by many of the country's leading practitioners, experts, and scholars. Written primarily from the viewpoint of the complainant, the Handbook goes well beyond a detailed cataloguing of the substantive and procedural considerations associated with individual and class action antitrust lawsuits by private individuals and businesses. It is a collection of thoughtful essays that delves deeply into practical and strategic considerations attending the decision-making of private practitioners. This eminently readable and authoritative Handbook will prove to be an invaluable resource for anyone associated with the antitrust enterprise, including both inexperienced and seasoned practitioners, law professors and students, testifying and consulting economists, and government officials involved in overlapping public/private actions and remedies. Contributors: W.K. Arends, A.C. Briggs, W.J. Bruckner, P.B. Clayton, C.C. Corbitt, E.L. Cramer, M.B. Eisenkraft, A.A. Foer, A.J. Gaughan, P. Gilbert, J. Goldberg, D.E. Gustafson, M.D. Hausfeld, K. Kinsella, R.H. Lande, J. Langenfeld, S. Martin, K.J.L. O'Connor, H.L. Renfro, J.D. Richards, V. Romanenko, J.L. Rubin, M.R. Salzwedel, A.E. Shafroth, D.C. Simons, S.P. Slaughter, R.M. Stutz, B.E. Sweeney, J. Tabacco, M.J. Waters, S. Wheatman, K.C. Wildfang, G.G. Wrobel, J.A. Zahid

Europe is increasingly becoming an everyday reality for many companies, not only for large corporations but small and medium-sized enterprises as well. European Competition offers students an introduction to the field of competition, cooperation and competition policy in the EU. To increase students' understanding of the workings of the Internal Market, most chapters start with case-studies. The book focuses on the subject areas economics and law and is written from both a business and a social/legal perspective. The book consists of the following topics: Competition and Competition Policy (including regulations and distortion of competition) Micro economic theory like prisoner's dilemma Market Dominance and Competition Policy Cooperation; Cartels & Strategic Alliances Legal Aspects of Cooperation Mergers & Acquisitions European Competition Law in an International Perspective EU competition & State Aid European Competition is an essential introductory textbook for students at both undergraduate and graduate levels in a wide range of degree and professional programmes. Including Economics, MBA and Law. It is of particular relevance to students interested in the European context of these disciplines and can be used as a core textbook for courses in European Integration or Business and International Environment in Europe and other parts of the world. This text is complementary to the book European Business Environment.

This book is the only comprehensive guide to the competition regimes of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Chinese developments are placed in the context of the adoption of competition regimes by developing and transitional states world-wide and also in relation to the influence of trans-national organisations on transitional states to adopt market-based economic strategies. The book adopts an inter-disciplinary approach considering the political, economic and legal issues relevant to competition policy adoption. The paradoxical phenomenon of Communist mainland China seeking to adopt a pro-competition law, whilst capitalist Hong Kong refuses to do so, is explained and contrasted with the successful Taiwanese adoption of a competition regime over a decade ago. The underlying economic and political forces that have shaped this unusual matrix are discussed and analysed with a theoretical explanation offered for the existing state of affairs.

What rules or principles govern the assessment of evidence in EU competition enforcement? This book offers, for the first time, a comprehensive academic study on the topic. Its aim is twofold. Firstly, it produces a typology of evidence standards in competition proceedings at the EU level, thereby systemising the guidance that is currently dispersed in the case-law of the EU Courts. Secondly, it examines the applicable evidence rules and principles with a view to better understanding their role in EU competition enforcement. In so doing, the book illustrates that evidence standards are not mere technicalities and their significance should not be underestimated. Rigorous and engaging, this work provides a much-needed analysis of a key question of EU competition enforcement.

A trenchant account of an unacknowledged driver of inequality and wage stagnation in America: the abandonment of antitrust law, which has allowed corporations to combine into a smaller number of massive conglomerates whose market dominance robs workers of their bargaining power. The consequences of the massive consolidation wave in corporate America that began decades ago are now increasingly apparent: labor markets are no longer competitive. Since the 1970s, Americans have seen income and wealth inequality skyrocket-and job opportunities stagnate. There are many theories of why this happened, including the decline of organized labor and the introduction of tax policies that favored the rich. However, another crucial event was the precipitous decline in antitrust enforcement that began in earnest during the Reagan administration. With ever-increasing combination and consolidation, workers had fewer options to turn to. In How Antitrust Law Failed Workers, Eric Posner documents the role of antitrust in our economy and why it failed. Only through reforming antitrust law can we shield workers from employers' overwhelming market power. As Posner explains, antitrust laws were created to protect the labor market by attacking monopolies, like Facebook and Google today, that are able to either charge high prices or degrade the quality of their services because customers cannot switch to competitors. Antitrust laws are also used to attack business cartels that can fix prices. In recent years, it has become clear that firms with market power not only charge higher prices; they also suppress wages and output. Many employers use anticompetitive devices-like covenants not to compete for workers and no-poaching agreements-to advance their market power at the expense of workers. Posner shares stories that illustrate how the problem is playing out on the ground, and then contextualizes what is going on via a concise history of the American economy and labor relations since the 1980s. Essential reading for anyone interested in fighting economic inequality, How Antitrust Failed Workers also offers a sharp primer on the true nature of the American economy-one that is increasingly uncompetitive and tilted against workers.

Can a price ever be too low? Can competition ever be ruinous? Questions like these have always accompanied American antitrust law. They testify to the difficulty of antitrust enforcement, of protecting competition without protecting competitors. As the business practice that most directly raises these kinds of questions, predatory pricing is at the core of antitrust debates. The history of its law and economics offers a privileged standpoint for assessing the broader development of antitrust, its past, present and future. In contrast to existing literature, this book adopts the perspective of the history of economic thought to tell this history, covering a period from the late 1880s to present times. The image of a big firm, such as Rockefeller's Standard Oil or Duke's American Tobacco, crushing its small rivals by underselling them is iconic in American antitrust culture. It is no surprise that the most brilliant legal and economic minds of the last 130 years have been engaged in solving the predatory pricing puzzle. The book shows economic theories that build rigorous stories explaining when predatory pricing may be rational, what welfare harm it may cause and how the law may fight it. Among these narratives, a special place belongs to the Chicago story, according to which predatory pricing is never profitable and every low price is always a good price.

The EU and the US are the preeminent examples of multi-level polities and both have highly developed competition policies. Despite these similarities however, recent developments suggest that they are moving in different directions in the area of antitrust federalism. This book examines multi-level governance in competition policy from a comparative perspective. The book analyses how competition laws and authorities of different levels - the federal and the state levels in the US and the national and the supranational levels in the EU - interact with each other. Inspired by the increasingly divergent policy developments taking place on both sides of the Atlantic, the author asks whether the EU and the US can draw policy lessons from each other's experiences in antitrust federalism. Antitrust Federalism in the EU and the US reveals the similarities and differences between the European and American models of antitrust federalism whilst employing policy network models in its comparative analysis of issues such as opacity and accountability in networks. The book is essentially multidisciplinary in its effort to initiate dialogue between the Law and Political Science literatures in this field. This book will be of particular interest to academics, students and practitioners of Competition Law, Constitutional Law and Political Science.

Competition policy-encompassing cartels, monopolies, mergers and state aid-is a hallmark of the European Union (EU). In recent decades, the EU's competition policy has evolved under pressures from globalization. The EU in turn has been a key actor driving the globalization of the world economy through its increasingly active competition policy. This volume identifies and explores the major transformations that EU competition policy has undergone in the last decade in response to various pressures related to globalization, in particular, economic interdependence, the proliferation of national and regional competition regimes, and the financial and economic crisis. The individual chapters, written by specialists of EU competition policy from both sides of the Atlantic and from the perspectives of political science, management and public policy, investigate how the EU has responded to these challenges in each area of competition policy, and demonstrate that it has, on balance, been quite successful in responding to them, with some exceptions in the areas of state aid and mergers. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.