Download or read book Competition Law and Consumer Protection written by Katalin Judit Cseres and published by Kluwer Law International B.V.. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The assumption that competition law and consumer protection are mutually reinforcing is rarely challenged. The theory seems uncontroversial. However, because a positive interaction between the two is presumed to be self-evident, the frequent conflicts that do in fact arise are often dealt with on an ad hoc basis, with no overarching legal authority. There is a clear need for a detailed and coherent understanding of exactly where the complements and tensions between the two policy areas exist. Dr Cseres in-depth analysis provides that understanding. Proceeding from the dual perspective of law and economics that is, of justice, fairness, and reasonableness on the one hand, and of efficiency of the other she fully considers such underlying issues as the following: the role of competition law and consumer law in a free market economy;the notion of consumer welfare;the effect of the modernisation of EC competition law for consumers;economics theories of information, bounded rationality, and transaction costs;the special significance of vertical agreements and merger control; and,how consumers are affected by information asymmetries. The ultimate focus of the book is on current and emerging EC law, in which a rapprochement between the two areas seems to be under way. Dr. Cseres provides a knowledgeable guide to the various strands of theory, policy, and jurisprudence that (she shows) ought to be taken into account in the process, including schools of thought and law and policy experience in both Europe and the United States. A special chapter on Hungary, where post-1989 law and practice reveal a fresh and distinctly forward-looking understanding of the matter, is one of the book's most extraordinary features. Competition Law and Consumer Protection stands alone as a committed contribution to bridging a gap in legal knowledge the significance of which grows daily. It will be of immeasurable value to a wide range of professionals from academics and researchers to officials, policymakers, and practitioners in competition law, consumer protection advocacy, economic theory and planning, business administration, and various pertinent government authorities.

Download or read book Competition Policies and Consumer Welfare written by Lahcen Achy and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2016-09-30 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fundamental goal of competition law is to support productivity and innovativeness; in fact, the short-term effect of enforcement actions is often a reduction in product prices. This book reports the findings of consumer market studies into a range of goods and services in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It finds a pervasive lack of competition in those markets, which not only reduces the standard of living of consumers, including poor and vulnerable groups, but also softens the incentives on firms to improve the efficiency of their operations and the quality of their products

Download or read book Competition Law and Consumer Protection written by Katalin Judit Cseres and published by Kluwer Law International B.V.. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The assumption that competition law and consumer protection are mutually reinforcing is rarely challenged. The theory seems uncontroversial. However, because a positive interaction between the two is presumed to be self-evident, the frequent conflicts that do in fact arise are often dealt with on an ad hoc basis, with no overarching legal authority. There is a clear need for a detailed and coherent understanding of exactly where the complements and tensions between the two policy areas exist. Dr Cseres in-depth analysis provides that understanding. Proceeding from the dual perspective of law and economics that is, of justice, fairness, and reasonableness on the one hand, and of efficiency of the other she fully considers such underlying issues as the following: the role of competition law and consumer law in a free market economy;the notion of consumer welfare;the effect of the modernisation of EC competition law for consumers;economics theories of information, bounded rationality, and transaction costs;the special significance of vertical agreements and merger control; and,how consumers are affected by information asymmetries. The ultimate focus of the book is on current and emerging EC law, in which a rapprochement between the two areas seems to be under way. Dr. Cseres provides a knowledgeable guide to the various strands of theory, policy, and jurisprudence that (she shows) ought to be taken into account in the process, including schools of thought and law and policy experience in both Europe and the United States. A special chapter on Hungary, where post-1989 law and practice reveal a fresh and distinctly forward-looking understanding of the matter, is one of the book's most extraordinary features. Competition Law and Consumer Protection stands alone as a committed contribution to bridging a gap in legal knowledge the significance of which grows daily. It will be of immeasurable value to a wide range of professionals from academics and researchers to officials, policymakers, and practitioners in competition law, consumer protection advocacy, economic theory and planning, business administration, and various pertinent government authorities.

Download or read book Competition Law and Consumer Protection written by Tefera Nigussie and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The protection of consumer welfare or broadly speaking protection of the interests of consumers is a central aspect of all modern competition laws as well as a direct aim of consumer protection laws. Competition law and consumer protection policies are complementary and mutually reinforcing. Competition in the market increases efficiencies and encourages innovation. Competition also creates incentives for product differentiation and improves the quality of goods and services provided. In that sense, competition enhances consumer welfare by providing consumers with a wider choice at competitive prices. Consumer protection strengthens competition in the markets. Consumers make informed decisions in their preference for goods and services in respective markets when they are well informed. However, despite being complementary in many ways, competition and consumer protection laws cover different issues and employ different methods to achieve their goals. Whilst consumer protection rules are built upon the premise that consumers are the weaker party to transactions and should be directly protected for this reason in their dealings with traders through certain consumer rights, competition law only indirectly protects the consumers' economic well-being by ensuring that the markets are subject to effective competition.This necessitates the coordination between the two laws is to maximize the synergies and minimize the tensions. So that, consumer policy tools while seeking approaches that effectively protect consumers should not unduly or unnecessarily restrict competition, and competition policy should be brought to bear to ensure that, subject to appropriate consumer protection safeguards being in place, competition should be allowed to work where it can, including by the elimination of any unjustified restriction on entry and on competitive conduct.

Download or read book Innovation Competition and Consumer Welfare in Intellectual Property Law written by Gustavo Ghidini and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Professor Ghidini has long since made himself a worldwide reputation as a leading scholar. He is a profound critic of intellectual property protection that follows rigid property logic, and favours the functionalist competition/innovation logic. Innovation, Competition and Consumer Welfare in Intellectual Property Law is truly enriching reading. Hanns Ullrich, College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium We in the United States have much to learn not only from Gustavo Ghidini s careful analysis of modern trends in the European IP regime but also from his thoughtful development of the thesis that free competition should be understood as the overarching principle guiding both IP protection and what we call antitrust law. Rudolph J.R. Peritz, New York Law School, US and author of Competition Policy in America This authoritative book provides a comprehensive critical overview of the basic IP paradigms, such as patents, trademarks and copyrights. Their intersection with competition law and their impacts on the exercise of social welfare are analysed from an evolutionary perspective. The analyses and proposals presented encompass the features and rationales of a legal field in constant evolution, and relate them to increasingly rapid technological, economic, social and geo-political developments. Gustavo Ghidini highlights the emerging trends that challenge the traditional all-exclusionary vision of IP law and its application. The author expertly combines holistic, evolutionary and constitutionally oriented approaches, with the search for a rebalancing of the IP rights holders positions with citizens and users rights. This book will appeal to academics, scholars and lawyers specializing in the realm of intellectual property, competition and comparative law.

Download or read book Competition Policy and the Control of Buyer Power written by Peter C. Carstensen and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive overview of the economic and competition policy issues that buyer power creates. Drawing on economic analysis and cases from around the world, it explains why conventional seller side standards and analyses do not provide an adequate framework for responding to the problems that buyer power can create. Based on evidence that abuse of buyer power is a serious problem for the competitive process, the book evaluates the potential for competition law to deal directly with the problems of abuse either through conventional competition law or special rules aimed at abusive conduct. The author also examines controls over buying groups and mergers as potentially more useful responses to risks created by undue buyer power.

Download or read book Competition Law written by Eugène Buttigieg and published by Kluwer Law International B.V.. This book was released on 2009-05-19 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although it is commonly assumed that consumers benefit from the application of competition law, this is not necessarily always the case. Economic efficiency is paramount; thus, competition law in Europe and antitrust law in the United States are designed primarily to protect business competitors (and in Europe to promote market integration), and it is only incidentally that such law may also serve to protect consumers. That is the essential starting point of this penetrating critique. The author explores the extent to which US antitrust law and EC competition law adequately safeguard consumer interests. Specifically, he shows how the two jurisdictions have gone about evaluating collusive practices, abusive conduct by dominant firms and merger activity, and how the policies thus formed have impacted upon the promotion of consumer interests. He argues that unless consumer interests are directly and specifically addressed in the assessment process, maximization of consumer welfare is not sufficiently achieved. Using rigorous analysis he develops legal arguments that can accomplish such goals as the following: replace the economic theory of ‘consumer welfare’ with a principle of consumer well-being; build consumer benefits into specific areas of competition policy; assess competition cases so that income distribution effects are more beneficial to consumers; and control mergers in such a way that efficiencies are passed directly to consumers. The author argues that, in the last analysis, the promotion of consumer well-being should be the sole or at least the primary goal of any antitrust regime. Lawyers and scholars interested in the application and development and reform of competition law and policy will welcome this book. They will find not only a fresh approach to interpretation and practice in their field – comparing and contrasting two major systems of competition law – but also an extremely lucid analysis of the various economic arguments used to highlight the consumer welfare enhancing or welfare reducing effects of business practices.

Download or read book Competition Policy and the Economic Approach written by Josef Drexl and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This outstanding collection of original essays brings together some of the leading experts in competition economics, policy and law. They examine what lies at the core of the .economic approach to competition law' and deal with its normative and institutional limitations. In recent years the more .economic approach' has led to a modernisation of competition law throughout the world. This book comprehensivelyexamines for the first time, the foundations and limitations of the approach and will be of great interest to scholars of competition policy no matter what discipline. Competition Policy and the Economic Approach will appeal to academics in competition economics and law, policy-makers and practitioners in the field of antitrust/competition law as well as postgraduate students in competition law and economics. Those interested in the interplay of law and economicsin the field of competition will also find this book invaluable.

Download or read book EU Competition Law and the Information and Communication Technology Network Industries written by Andrej Fatur and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-03-08 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Competition policies have long been based on a scholarly tradition focused on static models and static analysis of industrial organisation. However, recent developments in industrial organisation literature have led to significant advances, moving beyond traditional static models and a preoccupation with price competition, to consider the organisation of industries in a dynamic context. This is especially important in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) network industries where competition centres on network effects, innovation and intellectual property rights, and where the key driver of consumer benefit is technological progress. Consequently, when an antitrust intervention is contemplated, a number of considerations that arise out of the specific nature of the ICT sector have to be taken into account to ensure improved consumer welfare. This book considers the adequacy of existing EU competition policy in the area of the ICT industries in the light of the findings of modern economic theory. Particular attention is given to the implications of these dynamic markets for the competitive assessment and treatment of the most common competitive harms in this area, such as non-price predatory practices, tying and bundling, co-operative standard setting, platform joint ventures and co-operative R&D.

Download or read book Essays on Consumer Welfare and Competition Policy written by Gregory J. Werden and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The discourse on competition policy often uses the term quot;consumer welfarequot; but rarely is clear about its meaning or role. I address the meaning and role of quot;consumer welfarequot; in three discrete essays. The first reviews key economic concepts and the usage of the term quot;consumer welfarequot; then outlines distinct ways in which consumer welfare considerations could be relevant in competition law. The second essay examines the meaning and role of consumer welfare in merger control. It concludes that the welfare of all consumers should be considered, but short-term price effects in the relevant market nevertheless should be the initial focus in assessing proposed mergers. The third essay examines the meaning and role of consumer welfare in competition law on concerted practices and potentially exclusionary conduct by individual competitors. It concludes that promoting the welfare of all consumers is the ultimate goal of the law but effect on consumer welfare is not the test for legality nor generally even an appropriate guide for the application of the law.

Download or read book The Interface of Competition Law Industrial Policy and Development Concerns written by Balthasar Strunz and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-07-28 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyses essential concepts of competition law and industrial policy, and shows where the two areas clash with and complement each other, respectively. The discussion takes place in the context of developing countries, taking into consideration their realities and specific needs. South Africa serves as a real-world example for competition law that goes beyond the notion of consumer welfare. An in-depth analysis of the enforcement of South African law illustrates how the law is used both to combat the negative effects of past industrial policy, and to accommodate current economic and social needs.The book is intended for all readers with an interest in the enforcement of competition law in developing countries. It will particularly benefit those who want to learn about unorthodox approaches that integrate the concept of “public interest” and social imperatives into the application of competition law.

Download or read book The Antitrust Paradox written by Robert Bork and published by . This book was released on 2021-02-22 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most important book on antitrust ever written. It shows how antitrust suits adversely affect the consumer by encouraging a costly form of protection for inefficient and uncompetitive small businesses.

Download or read book Competition Policy in East Asia written by Erlinda M. Medalla and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited collection draws together papers on competition policy that were presented at the twenty-eighth conference of the Pacific Area Forum on Trade and Development (PAFTAD), held in Manila on 16th to 18th September 2002.

Download or read book ICLE Comments The Current Landscape of Competition and Consumer Protection Law and Policy written by Dirk Auer and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These comments were submitted to the FTC as part of its hearings on “Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century.” As part of our comments, we note the timeliness of the hearings, given that, despite the vast social benefits generated by companies operating in the digital economy, the ongoing economic transformation has stoked fears amongst members of the general public, the press, and policymakers. This transformation has led to calls for interventionist policies such as heightened antitrust enforcement, sector-specific regulation, and direct intervention against industry concentration.We further note that there is insufficient evidence and, at best, ambivalent theory to support any of these proposed policies--and in the absence of a strong basis for adopting them, the proposed policies would do more harm than good. Among other things, economies of scale, economies of scope, net- work effects, and the like may bring about larger firms and more concentrated markets along with considerable consumer benefits. And new markets necessarily imply the consolidation of some firms and the exit of others, as competitors vie to come up with the winning paradigm. Against the backdrop of this evolutionary process, it is critical that authorities avoid knee-jerk reactions that may impair the long-term welfare of consumers and firms alike.Our comment reviews some of the important findings which law and economics scholarship can bring to bear on competition and consumer protection enforcement in this space.

Download or read book The Goals of Competition Law written by Daniel Zimmer and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2012 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the normative foundations of competition law? That is the question at the heart of this book. Leading scholars consider whether this branch of law serves just one or more than one goal, and if it serves to protect unfettered competition as such, how this goal relates to other objectives such as the promotion of economic welfare. The book brings together contributions on the relevance of different welfare standards, on the concept of 'freedom to compete' and on distributional fairness as a goal of competition law. Moreover, it discusses the relationship to other legal goals such as mar.

Download or read book Competition Law and Economics written by Abel Moreira Mateus and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyone recognizes that competition is the process by which companies are induced to offer consumers the lowest prices and introduce innovations to earn higher profits. Antitrust enforcement should focus on real competition problems, on behaviour that has actual or likely restrictive effects on the market, and which harms consumers; it should be aimed at protecting competition and not competitors. A real revolution in the application of European competition law took place with the modernization package implemented in the last few years, involving the now-decentralized application of Articles 81 and 82 EC, new merger regulations, and the ongoing review of guidelines for the prosecution of abuses of a dominant position. This book presents the proceedings of the First Lisbon Competition Law and Economics Conference under the auspices of the Portuguese Competition Authority. It was a ground-breaking event in which leading European judges and competition enforcers, as well as some of the leading world economists and law professors on competition issues, took a critical look at the instruments of competition policy conceived to implement EC Regulation 1/2003, with a broader focus on modernization in the EU and in the USA. In wide-ranging discussions they evaluated theories of harm to competition for the most frequently-occurring types of abusive behaviour, and developed guidelines for a competition policy that offers both an economically sound framework and a workable and operational tool for making rules that can be enforced effectively and with a reasonable degree of predictability. Among the many issues arising in the proceedings recorded in this book are the following: special powers of investigation; leniency programs and individual sanctions; the problem of "forum shopping" in the present merger regulation system; the impact of regulations and competition on economic growth; competition and regulatory costs; judicial review of the European Commission merger decisions; consumer welfare effects of mergers; who should apply competition law to utilities; and the link between competition and innovation and the development of a country. The book will be of immeasurable value to judges, academics, and economic and law practitioners active in competition policy and enforcement, as well as to officials of European national competition authorities. Equally interested will be students of law and economics concerned with competition issues, and non-governmental organizations dealing with consumer protection and private enforcement of competition law. By giving ample evidence of the impact of competition and efficient regulation on economic growth, this far-reaching book will help elucidate the main current topics in need of further reform and underline the importance of competition policy in modern market economies.

Download or read book Competition Policy for Labour Markets written by Herbert Hovenkamp and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Competition law in many jurisdictions defines its consumer welfare goal in terms of low consumer prices. For example, mergers are challenged when they threaten to cause a price increase from reduced competition in the post-merger market. While the consumer welfare principle is under attack in some circles, it remains the most widely expressed goal of antitrust policy.We would do better, however, to define consumer welfare in terms of output rather than price. Competition policy should strive to facilitate the highest output in any market that is consistent with sustainable competition. That goal is in most ways the same as a goal of pursuing lower consumer prices; that is, as output goes up prices go down. In the United States we have traditionally seen anti-labour policies as coming from the political right, through such means as right-to-work laws that drive wages down or other forms of anti-union activity. But today the competition policy advocated on the left has its own share of anti-worker sentiment, particularly in the form of attacks on low prices. Higher prices certainly harm consumers, but they also harm labour by reducing output. Product consumers and labourers have one thing in common: just as consumers benefit from high output because it produces lower prices in product markets, so too labour benefits from high output because it increases the demand for jobs and, in the process, boosts wages. This paper examines competition policy toward labour, focusing on these themes. In particular we look at anticompetitive mergers in labour markets; anti-poaching agreements; excessive noncompetition covenants, particularly those that bind only the employees working in a particular franchise, such as McDonald's; and anticompetitive occupational licensing.