Antitrust Law (LAW-692-001)
Jim May
Meets: 10:00 AM - 11:50 AM (MW) - Yuma - Room Y402
Enrolled: 16 / Limit: 50
Notices
There are no notices at this time.
Description
Examines the laws that protect consumers by ensuring competition in the marketplace. Topics include agreements among rivals, agreements between firms and their suppliers and customers, monopolization, mergers, and antitrust and the new economy. The course goes beyond Supreme Court case law to study influential modern lower court decisions and government enforcement guidelines. Although economic concepts and thinking characteristic of contemporary antitrust analysis are integrated throughout, the economic content of the course is accessible to students without background in that field.
Textbooks and Other Materials
The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.
The required casebook for the course is Andrew Gavil, William Kovacic, Jonathan Baker, and Joshua Wright, Antitrust Law in Perspective: Cases, Concepts and Problems in Competition Policy (West Academic Publishing, 3d ed. 2016) ISBN-10: 0314266054 ISBN-13: 978-0314266057. A recommended text, especially for anyone who has not studied basic microeconomics before, or not for a long time, is Avinash Dixit, Microeconomics: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press 2014) ISBN: 9780199689378. This recommended paperback is relatively inexpensive new and can be purchased at a substantial discount used.
First Class Readings
For our first class session please read Gavil, Kovacic, Baker, and Wright, Antitrust Law in Perspective pages 1-4(middle), 5-6(top), 17-28(top), 35-37(middle), 39(bottom)-51(top), 55(bottom)-59(top), 1371, 1387-89(top), 1419 (Sherman Act § 1) ** Optional Recommended Reading: United States Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, Antitrust Enforcement Overview, posted in the Handouts and Supplements folder of the Course Materials section of the MyWCL site for the course. ** How Much Economics Do You Need to Know to Succeed in this Class? ** While antitrust law heavily involves the application of basic economic principles to varied forms of business conduct, it is not necessary to have studied economics previously to excel in the course and the field. If you have not taken a basic course in microeconomics before, however (or if you have done so and want to brush up on some fundamental ideas and principles after reading casebook pages 17-28), you may find it helpful over the first week or so to view Parts One and Two of the narrated PowerPoint presentation entitled “Introduction to Microeconomics.” (Please ignore the fact that the first slide is labeled “Introduction to Microeconomics - Continued” and any references in this presentation to things said in a prior class discussion.) The link to this mp4 file is posted in a subfolder within the Narrated PowerPoint Presentations folder in the Course Materials section of the MyWCL site for the course. The table of cost figures prominently discussed in this narrated PowerPoint presentation is posted at the MyWCL site for the course in the “Handouts and Supplements” folder as “01 Key Dimensions of Firm Costs.” Alternatively, in the first week or two of the course, or in subsequent weeks, you may find it helpful to look at the recommended text, Avinash Dixit, Microeconomics: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press 2014).