Entertainment Made in Spain: Competition in the Bullfighting Industry

Working Paper IE Law School, AJ8-219-I

26 Pages Posted: 23 Feb 2015

Date Written: February 2, 2015

Abstract

Controversial for many reasons, bullfighting is probably one of the most typical entertainment activities in Spain. Bullfights are an idiosyncratic spectacle belonging to the Spanish cultural tradition, but which has also a meaningful economic significance. This paper will look at the role of market forces and competition in the bullfighting industry, describing the peculiarities of its organization and looking at the many anticompetitive features that characterize it. Spanish local authorities are strongly involved in the organization of bullfights and strict and detailed public rules govern the intervening actors and the performance during the shows. Thus, the institutional framework of bullfighting heavily constrains competition conditions in the industry, setting the scenario for a limited role of market forces. Furthermore, history shows that the collective organization of different players involved (promoters, breeders, bullfighters and subordinates) in order to exert their market power has occasionally lead to anticompetitive actions and reactions. Thus, unsurprisingly, the Spanish Competition authorities have dealt with some anticompetitive behaviour by some of the players participating in the bullfighting industry.

Keywords: Entertainment, Antitrust Law, Competition Law, Bullfighting, Regulation

JEL Classification: K21, L40, L51

Suggested Citation

Marcos, Francisco, Entertainment Made in Spain: Competition in the Bullfighting Industry (February 2, 2015). Working Paper IE Law School, AJ8-219-I, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2568397 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2568397

Francisco Marcos (Contact Author)

IE Law School ( email )

Castellón de la Plana 8
Madrid, Madrid 28006
Spain

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
321
Abstract Views
2,129
Rank
171,359
PlumX Metrics