The Law and Economics of Monopolization Standards

Abstract

This chapter provides a survey of the law and literature on monopolization. The focus is American law, but the issues considered are equally applicable to European law. After briefly reviewing the history of monopolization law in the U.S., I review various approaches to the legal standard for monopolization suggested in the literature. I then attempt to model monopolization standards, and assess their desirability in light of error costs.

Keywords: monopolization, dominance law, Sherman Act Section 2, rent seeking, welfare tradeoffs, consumer harm, specific intent, profit sacrifice, equally efficient competitor test, welfare balancing test, error costs

JEL Classification: K00, K21