The course begins by explaining why the American antitrust laws' critical expressions -- "restraint of trade," "monopolizes," "decreases competition" -- should be interpreted in ways that make the legality of the various types of business conduct covered by those laws depend on economic analyses of the motivations of those who engage in them or certain consequences that they have. It then analyzes the economic factors that determine the legality of the various practices that the American antitrust laws cover. Approximately three-fourths of class-time will be devoted to economic analysis. The remaining time will be devoted to explaining the positive case-law and guidelines and analyzing the respects in which the courts and antitrust enforcement agencies are analyzing the legality of the conduct in question correctly and incorrectly.
No background in economics will be presupposed, though students without such a background will have to work harder, particularly at the beginning of the course. Diagrams but no more advanced type of mathematics will be used.
There will be a midterm as well as a final examination.
This course can be taken instead of or in addition to the regular antitrust course.
Markovits, Richard S.