Law and Economics Commons^™

Rhetoric And Skepticism In Antitrust Argument, Herbert Hovenkamp

Michigan Law Review

In his essay on Workable Antitrust Policy Judge Easterbrook professes an extraordinary skepticism about economic models in general, and particularly about the ability of courts to use economic models to distinguish the competitive from the anticompetitive. But a profession of skepticism is itself a very powerful rhetorical device; it creates a perception of tough-mindedness, of refusal to yield real-world observations to analytic models or other abstractions, of extreme reluctance to accept any proposition that has not been clearly proven. Further, it is always very easy to be a skeptic, because every position ever taken except perhaps for a few tautologies …

Mobility Factors In Antitrust Cases: Assessing Market Power In Light Of Conditions Affecting Entry And Fringe Expansion, William H. Wentz

Michigan Law Review

To assist courts and litigants in developing and utilizing information on mobility factors in a meaningful manner, I have attempted in this Article to outline a basic approach for analyzing the competitive and efficiency significance of mobility factors in a litigative context. In Part I, I lay the necessary foundation: discussing the importance of mobility factors in accepted economic theory, explaining the sources of the current confusion and controversy about "entry barriers" and deriving from the debate areas of fundamental agreement among economists. Building on this common ground, I develop in Part II a basic approach to consideration of mobility …

Antitrust Law, Competition, And The Macroeconomy, Peter C. Carstensen

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article examines the links between antitrust law-one possible tool for dealing with economic ills-and macroeconomic structure. It analyzes the current policy and economic assumptions underlying the importance of antitrust enforcement in reaching a healthy, competitive economy and concludes that such enforcement does contribute to the increased effectiveness of macroeconomic tools.

Part I explores the current macroeconomic theories and their policy implications. Part II discusses the related concepts of market power and competition and concludes that dissipation of market power is preferable, but that the regulation of market power may yield significant social and economic benefits in the short run, …

Antitrust Law: An Economic Perspective, Thomas E. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Antitrust Law: An Economic Perspective by Richard A. Posner

Hawley: The New Deal And The Monopoly Problem, Arthur D. Austin

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The New Deal and the Monopoly Problem By E. W. Hawley

Antitrust And The Consumer Interest, Kenneth S. Carlston, James M. Treece

Michigan Law Review

Public control of business in the United States has proceeded, in most sectors of the economy, on the assumption that free, open competition in the market should be the primary regulator. It is felt that consumer welfare will be maximized by such an organization of the economy. Courts, governmental agencies, and, to a certain extent, private agencies have performed the role of ensuring that free markets are not displaced by other, less desirable alternatives.

Boycotts And Restrictive Marketing Arrangements, Richard M. Buxbaum

Michigan Law Review

It is currently a common if still relatively unheralded practice for a "fired" dealer to bring an antitrust action against his former manufacturer-supplier (and perhaps other dealers), alleging that his termination was the result of a boycott. Boycotts-collective efforts to obtain the exclusion of a party from a market-are illegal per se under section 1 of the Sherman Act. Thus, questions concerning the justification for the boycott or the significance of the offender's market position do not arise.

Oppenheim: Unfair Trade Practices, Cases And Comments, Glen E. Weston

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Unfair Trade Practices, Cases and Comments by S. Chesterfield Oppenheim

The Relativity Of Economic Evidence In Merger Cases-Emerging Decisions Force The Issue, Betty Bock

Michigan Law Review

The following discussion explores the interaction between law and economics as these two disciplines relate to the issues which arise under section 7 of the Clayton Act, as amended in 1950, and examines the correlative problems implicit in the working arrangements between lawyers and economists when they are asked to counsel an enforcement agency or an acquiring or acquired company concerning the potential competitive consequences of a merger.

A View From Labor, Theodore J. St. Antoine, N. Goldfinger

Book Chapters

It will come as no surprise that our attitude, as union spokesmen, toward further extension of the antitrust laws over the activities of American labor organizations is much like the attitude of Calvin Coolidge's minister toward sin: we're against it. We feel our attitude is justified. But in contributing to a volume graced by so distinguished a company of scholars, it may be best that we do not confine ourselves merely to developing our own case in support of a conclusion which some might accuse us of having harbored all along.

We therefore shall take two different approaches. First, we …

British Antitrust In Action, Michael Conant

Michigan Law Review

The Restrictive Trade Practices Act of 1956 was the first positive anti-monopoly statute in the United Kingdom since the Statute of Monopolies in 1623. Now that the statute has been in effect four years there are sufficient decisions and consent orders to make possible a report on its operation. Since most American readers are unfamiliar with the legal and economic background of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act, the prior common law in this area and the 1948 monopolies investigation statute will be summarized first. This summary is followed by an analysis of the structure of the 1956 Act, of the …

Stein & Nicholson: American Enterprise In The European Common Market: A Legal Profile. Vol. Ii, Sigmund Timberg

Michigan Law Review

A Review of American Enterprise in the European Common Market: A Legal Profile. Vol. II. Volume Two. Edited by Eric Stein and Thomas L. Nicholson.

Antitrust Law - Suggested Resale Price Policy - Limitations Of Use Of The Colgate Doctrine, Stanley Zax

Michigan Law Review

The United States Government brought a civil action charging that Parke, Davis & Co., a large pharmaceutical manufacturer, violated sections 1 and 3 of the Sherman Act by combining and conspiring with wholesalers and/or retailers to maintain the resale price of its products. Parke Davis, in marketing its products through both wholesale and retail channels of distribution, announced in its catalogues a suggested policy of resale prices at the wholesale and retail levels. In an effort to promote adherence to this policy, Parke Davis representatives visited wholesalers and retailers separately in non-fair trade areas. The wholesalers were informed that Parke …

Regulation Of Business - Sherman Act - Expansion Of Per Se Doctrine Over Tying Agreements, Max H. Bergman S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Through congressional grant defendant's predecessor acquired approximately forty million acres of land, consisting of every alternate section in a twenty to forty mile wide belt on each side of its railroad track from Lake Superior to Puget Sound. Defendant sold about thirty-seven million acres of its holdings and leased the balance. Many of the sales contracts and most of the leases, together covering several million acres of land, contained "preferential routing" clauses which compelled the grantee or lessee to ship all commodities produced or manufactured on the land over defendant's lines, unless competitors' rates were lower or, in some instances, …

Regulation Of Business - Sherman Act - Effect Of Trade-Mark On Scope Of Relevant Market, Robert H. Kapp S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendants are American corporations marketing trade-marked toilet goods obtained from their French affiliates. In each case the French company transferred to the American company trademark rights covering imported products. Pursuant to section 526 of the Tariff Act of 1930 defendants filed with the Bureau of Customs certificates of registration of these trade-marks for the purpose of preventing the competitive importation of products bearing the same trade-marks. In an action by the government charging that utilization of section 526 by each defendant constitutes an attempt to monopolize and a monopolization of the importation and sale of these trade-marked commodities in violation …

Edwards: Big Business And The Policy Of Competition, Carl H. Fulda

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Big Business and the Policy of Competition By Corwin D. Edwards.

Regulation Of Business - Robinson-Patman Act - A Further Look At Functional Discounts, Richard R. Dailey S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Probably no sphere of governmental regulation of business in the United States has caused more concern or created more confusion than the attempted regulation of pricing practices. This problem has arisen, in part, because of the peculiar tendencies of certain segments of the American economy toward expansion and vertical integration and, also in part, because of the adoption of ambiguous and prejudicial legislation designed as a cure-all for allegedly harmful pricing practices. In addition, the attitude of the courts and the Federal Trade Commission in this field has been far from consistent over the years, with the result that neither …

The Antitrust Laws In Foregin Commerce, Robert A. Nitschke

Michigan Law Review

The Sherman Act applies to trade or commerce "with foreign nations." Are there differences in the act's application to foreign trade compared with its application to domestic commerce? The Attorney General's National Committee to Study the Antitrust Laws was constituted at a time when this question was pressing for an answer.

During the 1920's and 1930's, the international cartel movement was in full Hood. American companies participated in some of these international arrangements, often in the belief that they were a necessary condition for world trade and upon the legal premise that restrictions adjunctive to patent and know-how licenses were …

Antitrust Policy In Distribution, Kendall B. Debevoise

Michigan Law Review

The American genius lies quite as much in distribution as in manufacturing. Other peoples have demonstrated equal or greater creative ability in many fields. And it is debatable whether their talents are any less at mass production given adequate economic demand. But they have nowhere shown the American genius for distribution. It is axiomatic that if you manufacture in Detroit and your potential customer lives in New York, you need mutual friends. We seem to have figured out better ways to provide better friends for this purpose than any other nation.

But manufacturing came first. Someone had to build a …

Product Competition In The Relevant Market Under The Sherman Act, David Macdonald

Michigan Law Review

The correct delimitation of the relevant market is the problem to be examined here. First the legal development of market concepts will be traced. Then, with the objective of coalescing the legal and economic concepts of .the market, a test will be proposed with which to measure the correct market in any given case.

Regulation Of Business - Proof Of Seller's Costs In Robinson-Patman Act Buyer Proceedings, Arthur M. Wisehart S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The purposes of this comment are to analyze the holding of the Court in the Automatic Canteen case and to relate the language of the opinion to the more general problem of defining the extent of buyer responsibility under section 2(f). As a preliminary matter, however, it is necessary to examine the pertinent statutory provisions. Section 2(f) of the Robinson-Patman Act makes it unlawful for buyers in interstate commerce" ... knowingly to induce or receive a · discrimination in price which is prohibited by this section." In other words, it prohibits buyers from knowingly inducing or receiving the benefit of …

Rostow: A National Policy For The Oil Industry., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of A NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE OIL INDUSTRY. By Eugene V. Rostow.

Labor Law-Some Developments During The Past Five Years-(A Service For Returning Veterans), Russell A. Smith

Michigan Law Review

It will be helpful in appraising labor relations problems of today to recall that unionism in this country has trodden a rough and thorny path over the past century. Unions were not welcomed by employers, worker inertia itself was a considerable obstacle, and by and large the general public was dubious as to the value of unionism. Facing these difficulties unions from the- beginning felt compelled to resort to self-help--the strike, the picket line, the boycott, etc.--to achieve their aims. In so doing they encountered vigorous and successful opposition in the courts, as injured economic interests, and even the government, …

The Public Interest Concept In Law And In Economics, Robert W. Harbeson

Michigan Law Review

It is an interesting and perhaps important coincidence that only a year previous to the famous decision in Nebbia v. New York there appeared two volumes which together constitute an equally notable landmark in the development of economic doctrine, Professor Edward Chamberlin's Theory of Monopolistic Competition and Mrs. Joan Robinson's Economics of Imperfect Competition. While there is no evidence that the latter works influenced the outcome of the Nebbia case, the writer is of the opinion that these studies not only afford a rationale of that decision but also make desirable a re-examination of the concept of "businesses affected …