Download This PaperUnderstanding Exclusionary Conduct Enforcement and Its Place in Antitrust Policy
88 Pages Posted: 19 May 2020 Last revised: 22 Jan 2021
Date Written: January 22, 2021
Abstract
There is perhaps no area in antitrust policy that is more prone to confusion and misunderstandings than enforcement against exclusionary conduct violations. This article develops a framework for understanding anti-competitive conduct policy that is built around three building blocks: Coordination, Exclusion, and Extraction. It then delves into the economics of Exclusion, using an intuitive classification of the economic mechanisms at play, and provides a detailed step-by-step guide to an antitrust agency’s enforcement efforts against exclusionary conduct violations. It also presents new approaches to evaluating Refusal to Deal situations and to understanding the concept of Market Power: these are important elements in exclusionary conduct policy but are often misconceived.
Keywords: Antitrust policy, exclusionary conduct, market power, refusal to deal
JEL Classification: L4
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation