This article follows the evolution of thinking about competition since the passage of the Sherman Act in 1890 as reflected by major antitrust decisions and research in industrial organization. We divide the U.S. antitrust experience into five periods and discuss each period's legal trends and...

Has the U.S. liability system run amok? Many commentators feel it has, as do many executives who feel that the liability "tax" discourages innovation and ultimately fails to promote safety. On the other hand, economists have ceaselessly pointed out that when one party is made liable for injury...

Economists often assume that a patent gives its owner a well-defined legal right to exclude others from practicing the invention described in the patent. In practice, however, the rights afforded to patent holders are highly uncertain. Under patent law, a patent is no guarantee of exclusion but...

In markets where advantages, e.g., network ex ternalities, are significant, firms' product compatibility choices are an import ant determinant of industry performance. This paper compares the private and soc ial incentives to achieve compatibility in a two-period duopoly model with (poss ible...

The authors study the introduction of a new product in a market with network externalities. There is a common presumption that such markets exhibit excess inertia, i.e., that they are biased toward existing products. In contrast, the authors provide conditions under which equilibrium involves...

The authors analyze incomplete long-term contracts when buyers incur relationship-specific set-up costs and sellers choose product or service quality that is not verifiable to third parties. If set-up costs are observable, the first-best outcome can be achieved even though contracts cannot...