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Anthropology, History And The "More Economic Approach" In European Competition Law - A Review Essay, David J. Gerber

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In several works over the last decade, Wolfgang Fikentscher has reminded us that there are ways of viewing competition law that need not begin and end with economics—its concepts, its language, and its science-based normative stance. Discussions of competition law in the United States and increasingly in Europe generally dismiss or marginalize views of competition law that are not circumscribed by economic science. In the works reviewed here, Fikentscher takes issue with the so-called “more economic approach” to law, particularly, competition law. As he has said on other occasions, he favors “a less economic approach” to competition law. Many in …

Convergence In The Treatment Of Dominant Firm Conduct: The United States, The European Union, And The Institutional Embeddedness Of Economics, David J. Gerber

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Discussions of the competition law treatment of dominant firms often center on the issue of whether EU and U.S. law in this area are likely to converge and thereby provide a more uniform legal terrain for the activities of such firms. Curiously, however, discussions of convergence seldom pay careful attention to key issues such as “What are the differences in the role of economics in the respective legal systems and which factors are likely to affect significantly the likelihood of convergence?”. They often hover in a somewhat mystical realm in which convergence is just expected to “happen”.

In this essay, …