IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecinqu/v58y2020i4p1555-1564.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Antitrust Economics And Consumer Protection Economics In Policy And Litigation: Why The Disparity?

Author

Listed:
  • Lawrence J. White

Abstract

The lag in the use of microeconomics in consumer protection policy and litigation—as compared with the use of microeconomics in antitrust/competition policy and litigation—has at least three causes: a considerably shorter period of intellectual development; the specific historical origins and culture of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where this disparity is especially noticeable; and the splintering of consumer protection responsibilities across a very large number of federal and state agencies. This paper will expand on these themes and discuss their implications—including the opportunities for expanded research in the area of consumer protection economics. (JEL B12, B13, B21, D18, L41)

Suggested Citation

  • Lawrence J. White, 2020. "Antitrust Economics And Consumer Protection Economics In Policy And Litigation: Why The Disparity?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(4), pages 1555-1564, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:58:y:2020:i:4:p:1555-1564
    DOI: 10.1111/ecin.12869
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.12869
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ecin.12869?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matthew Jones & Bruce Kobayashi & Jason O’Connor, 2018. "Economics at the FTC: Non-price Merger Effects and Deceptive Automobile Ads," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 53(4), pages 593-614, December.
    2. Armstrong, Mark & Porter, Robert, 2007. "Preface to the Handbook of Industrial Organization, Volume 3," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 0, pages 00, Elsevier.
    3. Steven Salop & Joseph Stiglitz, 1977. "Bargains and Ripoffs: A Model of Monopolistically Competitive Price Dispersion," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 44(3), pages 493-510.
    4. Franco Modigliani, 1958. "New Developments on the Oligopoly Front," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(3), pages 215-215.
    5. Michael Rothschild & Joseph Stiglitz, 1976. "Equilibrium in Competitive Insurance Markets: An Essay on the Economics of Imperfect Information," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 90(4), pages 629-649.
    6. Pearson, Robin, 2002. "Moral Hazard and the Assessment of Insurance Risk in Eighteenth-and Early-Nineteenth-Century Britain," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(1), pages 1-35, April.
    7. Lawrence White, 2000. "Present at the Beginning of a New Era for Antitrust: Reflections on 1982–1983," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 16(2), pages 131-149, March.
    8. Robert M. Feinberg & Thomas A. Husted & Florian Szücs, 2015. "Does State Antitrust Enforcement Drive Establishment Exit?," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 85-106.
    9. Vernon L. Smith, 1962. "An Experimental Study of Competitive Market Behavior," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(2), pages 111-111.
    10. E. H. Chamberlin, 1929. "Duopoly: Value Where Sellers Are Few," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 44(1), pages 63-100.
    11. Michael Salinger, 2010. "Behavioral Economics, Consumer Protection, and Antitrust," CPI Journal, Competition Policy International, vol. 6.
    12. George J. Stigler, 1962. "Information in the Labor Market," NBER Chapters, in: Investment in Human Beings, pages 94-105, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), 2007. "Handbook of Industrial Organization," Handbook of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 1.
    14. Marini, Marco A. & Corchon, Luis, 2016. "Handbook of Game Theory and Industrial Organization: An Introduction," MPRA Paper 77169, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Corchon, Luis & Marini, Marco A., 2017. "Handbook of Game Theory and Industrial Organization, Volume I: Theory. An Introduction," MPRA Paper 81443, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. repec:aei:rpbook:53444 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Tedlow, Richard S., 1981. "From Competitor to Consumer: The Changing Focus of Federal Regulation of Advertising, 1914–1938," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(1), pages 35-58, April.
    18. R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), 1989. "Handbook of Industrial Organization," Handbook of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 2, number 2.
    19. A. P. Lerner, 1934. "The Concept of Monopoly and the Measurement of Monopoly Power," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 1(3), pages 157-175.
    20. Robert M. Feinberg & Thomas A. Husted, 2013. "Do States Free Ride In Antitrust Enforcement?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(1), pages 997-1001, January.
    21. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    22. Nicola Giocoli, 2012. "Who Invented the Lerner Index? Luigi Amoroso, the Dominant Firm Model, and the Measurement of Market Power," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 41(3), pages 181-191, November.
    23. Julie Carlson & Ginger Zhe Jin & Matthew Jones & Jason O’Connor & Nathan Wilson, 2017. "Economics at the FTC: Deceptive Claims, Market Definition, and Patent Assertion Entities," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 51(4), pages 487-513, December.
    24. Tom Baker, "undated". "Containing the Promise of Insurance: Adverse Selection and Risk Classification," University of Connecticut School of Law Working Papers uconn_ucwps-1002, University of Connecticut School of Law.
    25. Frank Whitson Fetter, 1932. "Some Neglected Aspects of Gresham's Law," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 46(3), pages 480-495.
    26. R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), 1989. "Handbook of Industrial Organization," Handbook of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    27. Selgin, George, 1996. "Salvaging Gresham's Law: The Good, the Bad, and the Illegal," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 28(4), pages 637-649, November.
    28. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. J. K. Pappalardo, 2022. "Economics of Consumer Protection: Contributions and Challenges in Estimating Consumer Injury and Evaluating Consumer Protection Policy," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 201-238, June.
    2. Madeira, Carlos, 2021. "The potential impact of financial portability measures on mortgage refinancing: Evidence from Chile," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899.
    2. Richard Schmalensee, 2012. "“On a Level with Dentists?” Reflections on the Evolution of Industrial Organization," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 41(3), pages 157-179, November.
    3. Emanuela Todeva & Ruslan Rakhmatullin, 2016. "Industry Global Value Chains, Connectivity and Regional Smart Specialisation in Europe. An Overview of Theoretical Approaches and Mapping Methodologies," JRC Research Reports JRC102801, Joint Research Centre.
    4. Robert E. Hall, 2012. "The Cyclical Response of Advertising Refutes Counter-Cyclical Profit Margins in Favor of Product-Market Frictions," NBER Working Papers 18370, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2017. "The Revolution of Information Economics: The Past and the Future," NBER Working Papers 23780, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Frieden, B. Roy & Hawkins, Raymond J., 2010. "Asymmetric information and economics," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(2), pages 287-295.
    7. Bhattacharyya, Aditi & Kutlu, Levent & Sickles, Robin C., 2018. "Pricing Inputs and Outputs: Market prices versus shadow prices, market power, and welfare analysis," Working Papers 18-009, Rice University, Department of Economics.
    8. Sexton, Richard J., 1991. "Game Theory: A Review With Applications To Vertical Control In Agricultural Markets," Working Papers 225865, University of California, Davis, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    9. Martin Gaynor & Kate Ho & Robert J. Town, 2015. "The Industrial Organization of Health-Care Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(2), pages 235-284, June.
    10. Fiocco Raffaele, 2013. "The Optimal Institutional Design of Vertically Related Markets with Unknown Upstream Costs," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 183-210, June.
    11. J. Levin & L. Einav, 2012. "Empirical Industrial Organization: A Progress Report," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 1.
    12. Xiao, Mo, 2010. "Is quality accreditation effective? Evidence from the childcare market," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 708-721, November.
    13. Bernard Paulré, 2001. "Enjeux et dilemmes de l'économie cognitive," Working Papers halshs-00135486, HAL.
    14. Vesa Kanniainen & Juha Laine & Ismo Linnosmaa, 2019. "Pricing the Pharmaceuticals when the Ability to Pay Differs: Taking Vertical Equity Seriously," CESifo Working Paper Series 8031, CESifo.
    15. Panayiotis Agisilaou, 2013. "Collusion in Industrial Economics and Optimally Designed Leniency Programmes - A Survey," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) 2013-03, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    16. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1993. "Post Walrasian and Post Marxian Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 109-114, Winter.
    17. Kaplow, Louis & Shapiro, Carl, 2007. "Antitrust," Handbook of Law and Economics, in: A. Mitchell Polinsky & Steven Shavell (ed.), Handbook of Law and Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 15, pages 1073-1225, Elsevier.
    18. Manthos D. Delis & Sotirios Kokas & Steven Ongena, 2016. "Foreign Ownership and Market Power in Banking: Evidence from a World Sample," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(2-3), pages 449-483, March.
    19. Dionne, G. & Doherty, N., 1991. "Adverse Selection In Insurance Markets: A Selective Survey," Cahiers de recherche 9105, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.
    20. Lukáš Čechura & Tinoush Jamali Jaghdani, 2021. "Market Imperfections within the European Wheat Value Chain: The Case of France and the United Kingdom," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-21, August.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • B12 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Classical (includes Adam Smith)
    • B13 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Wicksellian)
    • B21 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Microeconomics
    • D18 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Protection
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:58:y:2020:i:4:p:1555-1564. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.