The Consumer Welfare Hypothesis In Law And Economics

The Consumer Welfare Hypothesis in Law and Economics is a compelling account of market relations with firm roots in economic theory and legal practice. This incisive book challenges the mainstream view that allocative efficiency is about total welfare maximisation. Instead, it argues for the consumer welfare hypothesis, in which allocating resources efficiently means maximising consumer welfare, and demonstrates that legal structures such as antitrust and consumer law are in reality designed and practised with this goal in mind.

This book is Volume I of a two-volume set on antitrust policy, analyzing the economic efficiency and moral desirability of various tests for antitrust legality, including those promulgated by US and EU antitrust law. The overall study consists of three parts. Part I (Chapters 1-8) introduces readers to the economic, moral, and legal concepts that play important roles in antitrust-policy analysis. Part II (Chapters 9-16) analyzes the impacts of eight types of conduct covered by antitrust policy and various possible government responses to such conduct in terms of economic efficiency, the securing of liberal moral rights, and the instantiation of various utilitarian, non-utilitarian-egalitarian, and mixed conceptions of the moral good. Part III (Chapters 17-18) provides detailed information on US antitrust law and EU competition law, and compares the extent to which-when correctly interpreted and applied-these two bodies of law could ensure economic efficiency, protect liberal moral rights, and instantiate various morally defensible conceptions of the moral good. This first volume contains Part I and the first two chapters of Part II of the overall study-the two chapters that focus on oligopolistic and predatory conduct of all kinds, respectively. The book will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students of economics and law who are interested in welfare economics, antitrust legality and the General Theory of the Second Best.

This book offers an edited volume for all readers who wish to gain an in-depth grasp of the economic analysis of recent developments in energy law and policy in Europe and the United States. In response to waning resources and heightened environmental awareness, many countries are now seeking to redefine their energy mix. Several energy sources are available: coal and oil, natural gas, and a variety of renewables. Yet which of them are capable of addressing core energy-related concerns? Reliability, security, affordability, fairness, and sustainability all have to be taken into account. Further, once a target mix has been identified, two challenges remain for legal scholars: what role does the law play in achieving a specified energy mix, and, how can the law best fulfill that role? The essential energy concerns are just as important in defining the way we shape our energy mix as they are in defining the mix itself. An example of current challenges in energy law and policy can be seen in the pursuit by the German and Swiss governments of the so-called “Energiewende” (energy transition). These policies are intended to enable the transition from a non-sustainable use of fossil and nuclear energy to a more sustainable approach based on renewable energies. On the one hand, the goal is to achieve a decarbonization of the energy economy by reducing the use of fossil energy sources such as petroleum, carbon and natural gas. On the other, and in response to the Fukushima nuclear accident, a phase out is intended to eliminate the dangers of nuclear technologies. Achieving these goals poses tremendous challenges for the two countries’ energy policies – partly because the energy transition will not only affect energy production, but also energy consumption. From a Law and Economics perspective, a number of questions arise: to what extent is it justifiable to rely on markets and continued technological innovation, especially with regard to the present exploitation of scarce resources? To what extent is it necessary for states to intervene in energy markets? Regulatory instruments are available to create and maintain more sustainable societies: command and control regulations, restraints, Pigovian taxes, emission certificates, nudging policies, and more. If regulation in a certain legal field is necessary, which policies and methods will most effectively spur the sustainable consumption and production of energy in order to protect the environment while mitigating any potential negative impacts on economic development? Do neoclassical and behavioural economics provide us with a suitable framework for predicting the market’s complex reactions to a changing energy policy? This book provides theoretical insights as well as empirical findings in order to answer these vital questions.

The most important book on antitrust ever written. It shows how antitrust suits adversely affect the consumer by encouraging a costly form of protection for inefficient and uncompetitive small businesses.

Does competitive process constitute an autonomous societal value or is it a means for achieving more meritorious goals: welfare, growth, integration, and innovation? The hypothesis of The Normative Foundations of European Competition Law is that the former is the case. This insightful book analyses the phenomenon of competition from philosophical, legal and economic perspectives demonstrating exactly why competitive process should not be viewed only as an instrument. It consolidates various normative theories of freedom, market and competition, and explains how exactly they can be operationalized effectively in the matrix of the EU competition policy.

Law and Economics is an established field of research and arguably one of the few examples of a successful interdisciplinary project. This book explores whether, or to what extent, that interdisciplinarity has indeed been a success. It provides insights on the foundations and methods, achievements and challenges of Law and Economics, at a time when both the continuing criticism of academic economics and the growth of empirical legal studies raise questions about the identity and possible further developments of the project. Through a combination of reflections on long-term trends and detailed case studies, contributors to this volume analyse the institutional and epistemic character of Law and Economics, which develops through an exchange of concepts, models and practices between economics and legal scholarship. Inspired by insights from the philosophy of the social sciences, the book shows how concepts travel between legal scholarship and economics and change meanings when applied elsewhere, how economic theories and models inform, and transform, judicial practice, and it addresses whether the transfers of knowledge between economics and law are symmetrical exchanges between the two disciplines.

"A manifesto for our times." —Thomas Frank, Wall Street Journal Barry C. Lynn, one of the most original and surprising students of the American economy, paints a genuinely alarming picture: most of our public debates about globalization, competitiveness, creative destruction, and risky finance are nothing more than a cover for the widespread consolidation of power in nearly every imaginable sector of the American economy. Cornered strips the camouflage from the secret world of twenty-first-century monopolies-neofeudalist empires whose sheer size, vast resources, and immense political power enable the people who control to direct virtually every major industry in America in an increasingly authoritarian manner. Lynn reveals how these massive juggernauts, which would have been illegal just thirty years ago, came into being, how they have destroyed or devoured their competition, and how they collude with one another to maintain their power and create the illusion of open, competitive markets. A confluence of small government zealotry and misguided efficient market theories has lead to a complete dismantling of government oversight of industry. Has that brought us the promised economic utopia? Just the opposite. For decades, the dominant elite has used the federal government to all but encourage companies to buy one another up, outsource all their production, and make their profits by leveraging their complete power over the market itself. Lynn makes clear it will take more than a lawsuit or two to overthrow America's corporatist oligarchy and restore a model of capitalism that protects our rights as property holders and citizens, and the independence of our Republic. Details how regular citizens can join together to beat the great powers, and how to do so by relearning the real history and language of our democratic republic. Includes stories of real people and real industries that show how monopolies threaten independent businesses, squelch innovation, degrade the quality and safety of products, destabilize vital industrial and financial systems, and destroy the fabric of democracy Explores monopoly power across a wide array of industries, including appliances, auto parts, beer, eyeglasses, medical supplies, pet food, surfboards, vitamins, and more. Demonstrates how the drive for "always lower prices" makes your job disappear, puts your small business out of business, and turns dreams of entrepreneurial success into impossible fantasies Lynn is that rarest of creatures, a journalist whose theoretical writings are taken very seriously by the top policymakers and economic thinkers in Washington and around the world. His work has been compared already to John Kenneth Galbraith and Peter Drucker. The Washington Post called Lynn's last book-on globalization-"Tom Friedman for grownups." Cornered is essential reading for anyone who cares about America and its future.