Exclusionary Practices: The Economics of Monopolisation and Abuse of Dominance

The most controversial area in competition policy is that of exclusionary practices, where actions are taken by dominant firms to deter competitors from challenging their market positions. Economists have been struggling to explain such conduct and to guide policy-makers in designing sensible enforcement rules. In this book, authors Chiara Fumagalli, Massimo Motta, and Claudio Calcagno explore predatory pricing, rebates, exclusive dealing, tying, and vertical foreclosure, through a blend of theory and practice. They develop a general framework which builds on and extends existing economic theories, drawing upon case law, discussions of cases and other practical considerations to identify workable criteria that can guide competition authorities to assess exclusionary practices. Along with analyses of policy implications and insights applied to case studies, the book provides practitioners with non-technical discussions of the issues at hand, while guiding economics students with dedicated technical sections with rigorous formal models.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; 1. Predatory pricing; 2. Price discrimination and single-product rebates; 3. Exclusive dealing; 4. Tying, bundling and bundled rebates; 5. Vertical foreclosure.

About the Author :
Chiara Fumagalli is Associate Professor of Economics at Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, Milan. Her research covers industrial organization, competition policy and corporate finance. Her research in these areas has been published in leading international academic journals, including The American Economic Review, The Journal of Financial Economics, and The Rand Journal of Economics. Massimo Motta is Research Professor at ICREA-Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics. He served as Chief Competition Economist at the European Commission (2013–2016), and has extensive experience in teaching competition policy and in advising competition agencies. His book Competition Policy: Theory and Practice (Cambridge, 2004) is the standard international reference on the economics of antitrust, and is used by teachers, scholars, and practitioners. Claudio Calcagno holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the European University Institute and has been working as a professional economist since 2004. He has advised clients across many jurisdictions and industries, on matters including abuse of dominance, agreements, mergers, market investigations, regulatory inquiries, private litigation and state aid.

Review :
'Exclusionary Practices provides a comprehensive and coherent treatment of the most challenging and controversial area of competition policy. Astutely navigating US – EU differences, it delivers an enlightening blend of economic and legal reasoning that will be an immensely valuable resource for scholars and practitioners.' Joseph E. Harrington, Jr, Patrick T. Harker Professor, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania 'Fumagalli, Motta, and Calcagno are at the forefront of the economic analysis of abuse of dominance. They have distilled their findings from over a decade of research and policy into a readable, authoritative, and insightful book. It is written by exactly the right people and comes out at an opportune moment. This superb book is a joy to read.' Tommaso Valletti, Chief Competition Economist, European Commission and Professor of Economics, Imperial College London 'The growing gap between US and EU enforcement of exclusionary conduct cries out for the type of careful economic explanation supplied in this volume. Readers of every level will find the intuition, examples, cases, and models illuminating, and will come away with a better understanding of the overall debate as well as how to analyze any specific example.' Fiona Scott Morton, Theodore Nierenberg Professor of Economics, Yale School of Management 'Exclusionary Practices is a superb contribution to the literature on this most complex and controversial area of competition policy. I congratulate the authors for providing a general analytic framework for the integration of economics-based reasoning into clear and administrable legal rules.' Richard Whish QC, King's College London 'A bold and timely book. The authors make a robust case for evaluating exclusionary conduct using an effects-based approach and they provide the basic economic tools needed to make that approach work.' Carl Shapiro, University of California, Berkeley '… Fumagalli, Motta, and Calgano's book is an indispensable companion for lawyers and economists who are looking for an up-to-date balanced economic analysis.' Konstantinos Stylianou, European Competition Law Review