The gap between the rich and poor is widening across the globe. This book explores whether this major societal challenge of our time can be addressed by the means of competition law.
The primary goal of today’s competition law is to ensure that market power does not lead to an inefficient production of goods and services. Nevertheless, even such efficiency-oriented curbing of market power may arguably contribute to the reduction of differences in how much people own and earn. Furthermore, many competition law regimes do take into account distributive considerations too.
The chapters investigate the relationship between competition law and economic (in)equality from philosophical, historical, and economic perspectives. Their inquiries concern the conceptual foundations of competition law and doctrinal frameworks of individual jurisdictions, as well as specific problems and markets. As such, the book provides a novel and comprehensive overview of whether and how competition law can contribute to more equality in both developed and developing countries.
The book is a must-read for researchers, public officials, judges, and practitioners within the competition law community. It will also appeal to anyone more broadly interested in issues of inequality and economic policy.
Introduction: Economic Inequality, Competition and Law Jan Broulík (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands) and Katalin Cseres (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands) Part I: Conceptual and Empirical Foundations 1. Competition and Equality: A Republican Account Elias Deutscher (University of East Anglia, UK) 2. Competition, Concentration, and Inequality through the Lens of the Theory of Reflexive Modernisation Juliane Mendelsohn (Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany) 3. A Cross-Country Analysis of the Relationship between Competition Law and Economic Inequality Amit Zac (ETH Zurich, Switzerland; University of Oxford, UK), Carola Casti (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation), Christopher Decker (University of Oxford, UK) and Ariel Ezrachi (University of Oxford, UK) Part II: Economic Inequality in Doctrines of Individual Jurisdictions 4. Antitrust and Inequality: The History of (In)equality in Competition Law and Its Guide to the Future Eleanor M Fox and Philipp Baschenhof (both New York University, USA) 5. Economic Inequality and Abuse of Dominance in EU Competition Law Konstantinos V Sidiropoulos (Zepos and Yannopoulos, Greece; European Law and Governance School, Greece) 6. Exploring Legal and Policy Options to Address the Competition-Inequality Nexus: The Case of South Africa Firoz Cachalia and Alex Beyleveld (both University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa) 7. How Concerns of Economic Inequality and Poverty Are Reflected in Efficiency-Based Competition Laws: A Developing Country Perspective Barbara Dufková (Charles University, Czech Republic) Part III: Specific Problems and Markets 8. Network Externalities, Income Inequality and the Role of Competition Law Mitja Kovac (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) and Elisabeth Wielinger (Schima Mayer Starlinger Attorneys-at-Law, Vienna, Austria) 9. Competition Law, Inequalities and Healthcare: Insights from EU and National Frameworks Mary Guy (Lancaster University, UK) 10. Foregrounding Distributive Justice in European Labour Antitrust Pascal McDougall (University of Ottawa, Canada)
Jan Broulík is Assistant Professor and Katalin Cseres is Associate Professor, both at the Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Reviews for Competition Law and Economic Inequality
For those who are interested in the question of the relationship between competition law and economic inequality, this book is a must-read ... It is highly recommended to researchers, public officials, judges, and practitioners in the field of competition law. * Concurrences *