Vertical Agreements: Motivation and Impact
Issues in Competition Law and Policy, American Bar Association, Section of Antitrust Law, Editor: W.D. Collins
28 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2019
Date Written: May 1, 2008
Abstract
After an introduction to Chicago School antitrust analysis, this paper provides an overview of the main insights that economic theory has provided in regard to vertical agreements. Following a theoretical discussion of both the benign and anticompetitive motivations for vertical coordination and a survey of the empirical literature, the paper concludes that while a general per se prohibition on price restraints is unlikely to be appropriate, there is reason to have a policy that is more restrictive on price restraints than nonprice restraints.
Keywords: vertical restraints, competition policy
JEL Classification: L42, K21
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation