Introduction: 40 Years of Areeda–Turner

Abstract

Phillip Areeda was the leading antitrust scholar of his day. His works and his students continue to illuminate the field (Breyer et al. 1996; Clark 1996). Donald F. Turner, who held degrees in economics and in law and served as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, co-authored Antitrust Policy: An Economic and Legal Analysis with Carl Kaysen and Antitrust Law with Phillip Areeda (Breyer 1996; Hovenkamp 1996). Their 1975 Harvard Law Review paper, ‘‘Predatory Pricing and Related Practices under Section 2 of the Sherman Act’’, aimed to (1975, pp. 699–700) ‘‘formulate meaningful and workable tests for distinguishing between predatory and competitive pricing by examining the relationship between a firm’s costs and its prices’’. It advocated substituting such objective tests for (1975, p. 699, footnotes omitted) ‘‘empty formulae [such] as ‘below cost’ pricing, ruinous competition, or predatory intent’’. It has transformed the treatment of exclusionary pricing under U.S. antitrust law, and this special issue of the Review of Industrial Organization commemorates the 40th anniversary of its publication.