Robinson-Patman Curtailments on Distribution Innovation: A Status Sought for Functional Discounts

The Welfare Effects of Forbidding Discriminatory Discounts: A Secondary Line Analysis of Robinson-Patman

We examine the welfare effects of forbidding price discrimination in intermediate goods markets when firms can bargain over terms of their nonlinear supply contracts. In particular, our focus is on secondary line injury to competition under three interpretations of what it means to forbid price discrimination. We find that in each case, forbidding discriminatory discounts renders retailer barga...

On the Economics of the “meeting Competition Defense” under the Robinson-patman Act

In this paper we analyze the welfare effects of third-degree price discrimination when competitive pressure varies across markets. In particular, we study the economic aspects of the Robinson-Patman Act associated with the “meeting competition defense.” Using equilibrium models, the main result we find is that this defense might be used successfully in cases of primary line injury precisely whe...

The Welfare Effects of Third Degree Price Discrimination In Intermediate Good Markets: The Case of Bargaining

This paper examines the welfare effects of third degree price discrimination by an intermediate good monopolist selling to downstream firms with bargaining power. One of the downstream firms (the “chain store”) may have a greater ability than rivals to integrate backward into the supply of the input. In addition to this outside option, the firms’ relative bargaining powers depend on their disag...

Primary Line Injury Under the Robinson-Patman Act: The Development of Standards and Erosion of Enforcement

The Law and Economics of Price Discrimination in Modern Economies: Time for Reconciliation?

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: LAWS TARGETING PRICE DISCRIMINATION .............. 1237 I. ECONOMIC CONCEPTIONS OF PRICE DISCRIMINATION: A BRIEF REVIEW ..................................................................... 1239 A. Price Discrimination, Defined .......................................... 1239 B. Arbitrage, Market Power, and Price Discrimination ........ 1243 C. Price Discriminatio...