Introduction to The Oxford Handbook of International Antitrust Economics

Abstract

Antitrust economics is a subset of industrial organization economics. What makes antitrust economics rather unique is the centrality of economic analysis to the development of antitrust law and policy. In the United States antitrust economics guides all antitrust analysis by government enforcers (at the federal level the Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission) and courts. In other systems, the centrality of antitrust economics to antitrust law (typically called competition law) and policy has not been established. Instead, cutting edge antitrust economic analysis competes with non-antitrust economics goals. Nevertheless, across the major non-US jurisdictions, antitrust economics is far more utilized now than previously. With global mergers and various types of conduct, increased coordination across agencies, practitioner lawyers and economists around the world trained in the latest theories of antitrust economics, and a rise of economic analysis in decision-making by adjudicators, the increasing role of international antitrust economics seems somewhat inevitable. The desire to provide scholars and policy-makers across jurisdictions a reference tool to understand the most important developments in antitrust economics motivates this intoduction to the handbook. We have assembled many of the most important scholars in the field to provide overviews and analysis of the core issuers in antitrust economics. Although no handbook can be exhaustive, we have attempted to cover all of what we believe to be the major topics in the field. The developments in economic analysis across these areas that the handbook covers will shape policy and legal issues in the field for some time.