The Marginal Price Effects of Antitrust Rules Against Price Discrimination

9 Pages Posted: 3 Jul 2012 Last revised: 8 Nov 2012

See all articles by Hans Zenger

Hans Zenger

European Union - Directorate General for Competition

Date Written: April 24, 2012

Abstract

The two central pricing rules contained in most antirust laws are prohibitions of below-cost pricing and prohibitions of discriminatory pricing. This article shows that the rule against discriminatory pricing may actually induce firms to charge exclusionary below-cost prices, even in the complete absence of any predatory intent on the part of firms.

Keywords: price discrimination, personalized pricing, antitrust pricing rules, non-linear pricing

JEL Classification: K2, L1, L4

Suggested Citation

Zenger, Hans, The Marginal Price Effects of Antitrust Rules Against Price Discrimination (April 24, 2012). Economics Letters, Vol. 117, No. 3, pp. 921-923, 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2097998

Hans Zenger (Contact Author)

European Union - Directorate General for Competition ( email )

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