The Making Of Competition Policy

This book provides edited selections of primary source material in the intellectual history of competition policy from Adam Smith to the present day. Chapters include classical theories of competition, the U.S. founding era, classicism and neoclassicism, progressivism, the New Deal, structuralism, the Chicago School, and post-Chicago theories. Although the focus is largely on Anglo-American sources, there is also a chapter on European Ordoliberalism, an influential school of thought in post-War Europe. Each chapter begins with a brief essay by one of the editors pulling together the important themes from the period under consideration.

This is the first book to provide a systematic treatment of the economics of antitrust (or competition policy) in a global context. It draws on the literature of industrial organisation and on original analyses to deal with such important issues as cartels, joint-ventures, mergers, vertical contracts, predatory pricing, exclusionary practices, and price discrimination, and to formulate policy implications on these issues. The interaction between theory and practice is one of the main features of the book, which contains frequent references to competition policy cases and a few fully developed case studies. The treatment is written to appeal to practitioners and students, to lawyers and economists. It is not only a textbook in economics for first year graduate or advanced undergraduate courses, but also a book for all those who wish to understand competition issues in a clear and rigorous way. Exercises and some solved problems are provided.

From the Foreword: Despite the longevity and importance of competition policy, there has been no comprehensive study of its objectives. Hence this work by Gorecki and Stanbury fills a gap in our understanding of how the objectives of a public policy are adapted to changes in the economy, shifts in political priorities, new developments in theory, and refinements in judicial decision making.

Michal Gal's thorough analysis shows the effects of market size on competition policy, ranging from rules of thumb to more general policy prescriptions, such as goals and remedial tools. Competition policy in small economies is becoming increasingly important, since the number of small jurisdictions adopting such policy is rapidly growing. Gal's focus extends beyond domestic competition policy to the evaluation of the current trend toward the worldwide harmonization of policies.

Competition Policy in the European Union provides a comprehensive introduction to the European Union's policies on restrictive practices, mergers monopolies and state aid. The authors offer a wide ranging analysis of the evolution, operation and regulation of one of the EU's most important policies in a clear and accessible format.

"This work illustrates how domestic competition law policies intersect with the realities of international business. The first part of the book provides country reports explaining the extraterritorial reach of national laws; the countries covered are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the EC, Israel, Japan, Singapore, and the United States. The second part of the book offers several proposals for effectively managing these overlapping competition policy regimes--by the publisher."

Economists have begun to make much greater use of experimental methods in their research. This collection surveys these methods and shows how they can help us to understand firm behaviour in relation to various forms of competition policy.

Neumann (economics, U. Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany) examines the history of competition policy in the US and Europe to demonstrate how far a convergence of principles has developed. He then outlines the theory of industrial organization as a tool to devise an appropriate policy. Neumann also discusses the practice of competition policy in the US, individual European countries, and the EC as a whole, in terms of collusion, mergers, and vertical restraints. The final section places competition policy within the social framework, treating such issues as property rights, international trade policy, and social justice. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR