Should Section 5 Guidelines Focus on Economic Efficiency or Consumer Choice?
Competition Policy International, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 1-11, May 2014
University of Baltimore School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2015-08
12 Pages Posted: 18 May 2014 Last revised: 16 Dec 2015
Date Written: 2014
Abstract
FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright is right that it would be desirable for the Commission to issue Section 5 antitrust guidelines. This article will demonstrate, however, that the best way to formulate Section 5 guidelines is to focus them on the goal of protecting consumer choice, rather than to embrace Commissioner Wright's proposal to neuter the FTC Act by confining it in an economic efficiency straitjacket. Only if Section 5 guidelines were formulated appropriately would they improve consumer welfare during the Commission's second century.
Keywords: FTC Act, antitrust guidelines, FTC guidelines, Section 5, Section 5 guidelines, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, consumer choice, economic efficiency
JEL Classification: K21, K29, K19, K39, K49, L44, L49
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation