Predatory Pricing in Antitrust Law and Economics

This new volume will examine the law and economics of predatory pricing, which is one of the most serious, and most debatable, antitrust violations. The analysis will cover both US and European antitrust law. It is highly original in its treatment of the issue through the viewpoint and method of the history of economic thought.

The reason why predatory pricing deserves to be singled out among antitrust violations is simply that it calls into question a kind of business behavior – charging too low a price – which epitomizes the troublesome state of most antitrust enforcement. In assessing predatory pricing, we are able to bring to the forefront lessons that can be applied to many other key issues in antitrust law and economics.

The book examines these issues from a History of Economic thought standpoint for several reasons, arguing that, in order to understand the evolution of PP antitrust law, the history of economics deserves consideration. In particular, Giocoli argues that this exploration of the subject may help to offer solutions to the existing problems caused by the differences between the European and the US systems in antitrust law more generally, with the US continuing to follow the Chicago school, whilst European judges apply anti-PP prohibition. In order to understand the more general point of how, when and why a specific economic theory is either embraced or rejected by antitrust courts, this book argues that only History of Economic Thought analysis can unravel the problem.