The Atlantic Divide in Antitrust: An Examination of US and EU Competition Policy

by Daniel J. Gifford, Robert T. Kudrle

Overview

How is it that two broadly similar systems of competition law have reached different results across a number of significant antitrust issues? While the United States and the European Union share a commitment to maintaining competition in the marketplace and employ similar concepts and legal language in making antitrust decisions, differences in social values, political institutions, and legal precedent have inhibited close convergence.
           
With The Atlantic Divide in Antitrust, Daniel J. Gifford and Robert T. Kudrle explore many of the main contested areas of contemporary antitrust, including mergers, price discrimination, predatory pricing, and intellectual property. After identifying how prevailing analyses differ across these areas, they then examine the policy ramifications. Several themes run throughout the book, including differences in the amount of discretion firms have in dealing with purchasers, the weight given to the welfare of various market participants, and whether competition tends to be viewed as an efficiency-generating process or as rivalry. The authors conclude with forecasts and suggestions for how greater compatibility might ultimately be attained.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226176109
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	02/11/2015
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Daniel J. Gifford is the Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. Robert T. Kudrle is the Orville and Jane Freeman Professor of International Trade and Investment Policy at the Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs and the Law School at the University of Minnesota. Both have written extensively on antitrust issues.

Table of Contents

1 American and European Perspectives on Antitrust 1

2 Welfare, Monopolization, Dominance, and Judicial Review 25

3 Merger Policy and Efficiencies 39

4 Price Discrimination 63

5 Predatory Pricing 83

6 Exclusive-Supply Contracts 101

7 Single-Product Loyalty Rebates: Is a Large Gap Narrowing? 117

8 Bundled Discounts 139

9 Intellectual Property, the Two Microsoft Decisions, and Antitrust in Dynamic Industries 161

10 A Summing Up 197

Notes 217

Bibliography 277

Index 291

Editorial Reviews

"Gifford and Kudrle provide an intellectual tour de force in their comparative analysis of US and European antitrust. Their work offers important analysis of the major issues and will appeal to both academics and practitioner audiences."

D. Daniel Sokol

With eloquence and thoroughness, Gifford and Kudrle examine the rich history and political economy underlying the transatlantic similarities and differences in the competition policy and law of the United States and the European Union. The authors critically examine where tensions remain, but also where convergences have emerged. The Atlantic Divide in Antitrust should be on the reading list for all antitrust lawyers, economists, and competition policy officials on both sides of the Atlantic.

Tom Sullivan

This fascinating little book analyzes and contrasts the similarities and differences between US Antitrust and European Union Law of competition, in the light of social, cultural, institutional, and economic backgrounds of particular period."

World Competition

This no-nonsense, often technical legal analysis examines laws and court rulings on mergers, price discrimination, predatory pricing, exclusive supply contracts, rebates, and the bundling of services. Recommended for scholars, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates specializing in antitrust, business, and business law.”
 

Choice

With The Atlantic Divide in Antitrust, Gifford and Kudrle have prepared a thoughtful and well-researched work, and their detailed treatment and rich comparison of approaches will be welcomed by academics and authorities on either side of the Atlantic.

Philip Marsden