Economics For Competition LawyersOxford Up 2016
Why, in the context of a damages claim, are
competitive industries more likely to pass on cost increases to consumers than
less competitive industries? When can a merger or joint venture result in lower
prices, even if there are no cost efficiencies? How can it be rational for a
network provider to offer its services below cost in the early stages of
network development, regardless of whether there are competing networks?
Economics for Competition Lawyers answers all these
questions and explains the underlying economic principles most relevant for
competition law. An accessible practitioner textbook, written in the tone of an
economic expert's report to a high court judge, the book is aimed specifically
at competition lawyers, be they solicitors, barristers, in-house counsel,
lawyers at government agencies, judges, or students.
Practitioners of competition law worldwide need at
least a basic grasp of economics, and some of the most successful competition
lawyers are those with a solid foundation in economics. This is not only
because the most basic premise of competition law - "competition is good,
monopoly is bad' - comes from economic theory, but also because economics
provides many of the standard tools now commonly applied in competition
investigations, such as the SSNIP test for market definition. Also, the
substantive standards applied to mergers and business practices increasingly
take account of economic effects on the market, and this requires reference to
economic "theories of harm".
This book therefore explains from first principles the
economics that underpin market definition, market power/dominance, mergers, and
anti-competitive practices, and shows how this knowledge can be applied in
competition cases. For example, it goes beyond the standard explanation of the
SSNIP test to cover issues such as when and how to define separate markets
because of price discrimination. Likewise, on the matter of market shares, the
book goes back to first principles to explain in which circumstances it is more
appropriate to measure market shares by capacity than by turnover. It uses
plain English and real-world examples, not abstruse theory, to explain the key
points. It also offers valuable insight into how to best use economics, or
economic experts, in the course of a case.
