Competition Policy And The Economic Approach

‘While the book will probably have its greatest appeal to scholars in the field, practitioners should not neglect it, as it offers a concise compilation of fundamental issues in competition law that frequently draws from concrete cases. It is true that the book delivers few definite answers but rather raises new questions, as acknowledged by the editors in their foreword. However, this will only add to the substance of the discussion and should not be regarded as a shortcoming. The book’s biggest strength may thus well be the fact that it constantly encourages the reader to challenge conventional thinking. Moreover, it rightly calls for a distinction between the use of economic insight to inform competition policy and improve the accuracy and effectiveness of its abstract rules on the one hand, and the use of in-depth quantitative economic analyses in individual cases on the other hand.’
– Hendrik Auf’mkolk, Competition and Regulation in Network Industries

This outstanding collection of original essays brings together some of the leading experts in competition economics, policy and law.

They examine what lies at the core of the ‘economic approach to competition law’ and deal with its normative and institutional limitations. In recent years the ‘more economic approach’ has led to a modernisation of competition law throughout the world. This book comprehensively examines for the first time, the foundations and limitations of the approach and will be of great interest to scholars of competition policy no matter what discipline.

Competition Policy and the Economic Approach will appeal to academics in competition economics and law, policy-makers and practitioners in the field of antitrust/competition law as well as postgraduate students in competition law and economics. Those interested in the interplay of law and economics in the field of competition will also find this book invaluable.

Contents:

Introduction
Rupprecht Podszun

PART I: THE GOALS OF COMPETITION POLICY
1. Consumer Welfare and Competition Policy
Gregory J. Werden

2. Consumer Welfare, Total Welfare and Economic Freedom – On the Normative Foundations of Competition Policy
Viktor J. Vanberg

3. Consumer Welfare, Economic Freedom and the Moral Quality of Competition Law – Comments on Gregory Werden and Victor Vanberg
Daniel Zimmer

PART II: MERITS AND CHALLENGES OF MODERN INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS
4. Current Issues in Antitrust Analysis
Daniel L. Rubinfeld

5. Using Economics for Identifying Anticompetitive Unilateral Practices
Michele Polo

6. Modern Industrial Economics: Open Problems and Possible Limits
Oliver Budzinski

7. Modern Industrial Economics Revisited – Comments on Daniel Rubinfeld, Michele Polo and Oliver Budzinski
Laurence Idot

PART III: COMPETITION POLICY AND EVOLUTIONARY AND INNOVATION ECONOMICS
8. Industrial Dynamics and Evolution – The Role of Innovation, Competences and Learning
Uwe Cantner

9. Competition, Innovation and Maintaining Diversity through Competition Law
Wolfgang Kerber

10. The Impact of Innovation – Comments on Uwe Cantner and Wolfgang Kerber
Andreas Heinemann

PART IV: COMPETITION POLICY AND BEHAVIOURAL AND EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS
11. Bounded Rationality and Competition Policy
Justus Haucap

12. Using Experimental Economics to Understand Competition
Bart J. Wilson

13. Competition as a Socially Desirable Dilemma – Theory v. Experimental Evidence
Christoph Engel

14. Introducing More Features of Real Life into the Economists’ World of Theoretical Models – Comments on Justus Haucap, Bart Wilson and Christoph Engel
Andreas Fuchs

PART V: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF COMPETITION POLICY
15. Normative and Institutional Limitations to a More Economic Approach
Dirk Schroeder

16. Competition Agencies, Independence, and the Political Process
William E. Kovacic

17. On the (a)political Character of the Economic Approach to Competition Law
Josef Drexl

Index