The Rule of Reason, which has come to dominate modern antitrust law, allows defendants the opportunity to justify their conduct by demonstrating “procompetitive” effects. Seizing the opportunity, defendants have begun offering increasingly numerous and creative explanations for their...

Advocates of traditional antitrust are increasingly called upon to the defend the existing framework. In doing so they face a challenge: the traditional framework is actually quite difficult to explain. The problem is not that modern antitrust involves a lot of advanced economics — though that...

Criminal cartel cases in the U.S. are at modern lows, spurring questions as to whether the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act of 2004 (ACPERA) and the Antitrust Division's criminal enforcement program continue to be effective and, if not, why not? In this Chapter, we offer...

The analysis of unilateral effects in horizontal mergers — especially on markets for differentiated goods — can take into consideration the extent to which the merging firms are close competitors. The elimination of a close competitor can result in an upward pricing pressure (UPP) on the...

State's policies for agricultural markets may vary significantly among jurisdictions. Interest groups exercise a great deal of pressure over State organisms, ranging from the Congress to the Executive agencies that regulate or survey these markets. Therefore, a special treatment awarded by the...

In this paper we set out the welfare economics based case for imposing cartel penalties on the cartel overcharge rather than on the more conventional bases of revenue or profits (illegal gains). To do this we undertake a systematic comparison of a penalty based on the cartel overcharge with...

This article is an allegory. The year is 2030, with the Supreme Court taking up an all-too familiar present-day antitrust problem of a dominant firm on one side and a cartel on the other. Using precedent from present day, the future Supreme Court deftly rules that Goliath beats David and his...

Cartels are often fought by granting leniency, in the form of forgiveness of penalties, to whistle-blowers. This study employs a laboratory experiment to compare leniency programs that differ with respect to fine size and whether a second whistle-blower may apply for leniency. The results show...

Despite the adoption of the European Damages Directive and its transposition to national legal systems, a number of obstacles to antitrust damages actions in the EU still persist. Such obstacles stem from both substantial and procedural aspects. Information and data available to plaintiffs and...

A fallacy lies at the core of modern antitrust. The ascendance of the consumer welfare standard is a story often told. Yet existing narratives overlook the pivotal role that output has played--and continues to play--in shaping the contemporary antitrust enterprise. That role has gone unnoticed...