The Quest for Behavioural Antitrust: Beyond the Label Battle, Towards a Cognitive Approach

The Dovenschmidt Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2013, pp. 77-88

Temi e Problemi no. 15 - Italian Competition Authority Working Papers Series

30 Pages Posted: 21 Nov 2011 Last revised: 8 Jan 2014

See all articles by Luca Arnaudo

Luca Arnaudo

Syracuse University College of Law; Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM)

Date Written: November 21, 2011

Abstract

Over the past decades behavioral economics has gained widespread consensus, and, as a consequence, is affecting many areas of law and economics. Antitrust is currently providing an interesting case-study of this new cultural-academic wave, with a growing number of articles and comments focusing on 'behavioral antitrust'. This paper provides a concise survey of the current state of the art, aiming at better understanding the qualities of the new behavioral approach to antitrust (taking predatory pricing as an explanatory test), and, at the same time, considering its limits. Final considerations are dedicated to the need to go beyond the ongoing 'label battle' in order to set up a credible frame of reference-knowledge to be used when dealing with antitrust, in view of reaching a sound cognitive approach to the discipline.

Keywords: antitrust, predatory pricing, post-war neoclassical economics, behavioral economics, cognitive economics and the law

JEL Classification: B20, K21, L40

Suggested Citation

Arnaudo, Luca, The Quest for Behavioural Antitrust: Beyond the Label Battle, Towards a Cognitive Approach (November 21, 2011). The Dovenschmidt Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2013, pp. 77-88 , Temi e Problemi no. 15 - Italian Competition Authority Working Papers Series, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1962515 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1962515

Luca Arnaudo (Contact Author)

Syracuse University College of Law ( email )

950 Irving Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13244
United States

Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) ( email )

Piazza G. Verdi, 6/A
Rome, 00198
Italy

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