On the Meaning of Antitrust's Consumer Welfare Principle
Revue Concurrentialiste (Jan. 17, 2020)
4 Pages Posted: 13 Feb 2020 Last revised: 19 Feb 2020
Date Written: January 25, 2020
Abstract
This brief essay addresses the ambiguities in the meaning of “consumer welfare” in antitrust, exploring the differences between the Williamson, Bork, and current understanding of that term. After weighing the alternatives it argues that the consumer welfare principle in antitrust should seek out that state of affairs in which output is maximized, consistent with sustainable competition.
Keywords: antitrust, consumer welfare, welfare tradeoff, williamson, bork, output
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Hovenkamp, Herbert, On the Meaning of Antitrust's Consumer Welfare Principle (January 25, 2020). Revue Concurrentialiste (Jan. 17, 2020), U of Penn, Inst for Law & Econ Research Paper No. 20-16, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3525385
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