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The Misguided Assault on the Consumer Welfare Standard in the Age of Platform Markets

Author

Listed:
  • A. Douglas Melamed

    (Stanford Law School)

  • Nicolas Petit

    (University of Liege
    University of South Australia
    Stanford University)

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss whether the consumer welfare (CW) standard needs to be replaced or revised in order for antitrust law to deal effectively with the economic challenges of the platform economy. We argue that both the general and platform-specific assaults on the CW standard are misguided, that the CW standard is capable of addressing the economic concerns that critics have raised, and that the proposed alternatives would make things worse—not better.

Suggested Citation

  • A. Douglas Melamed & Nicolas Petit, 2019. "The Misguided Assault on the Consumer Welfare Standard in the Age of Platform Markets," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 54(4), pages 741-774, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:54:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s11151-019-09688-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s11151-019-09688-4
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    Cited by:

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    2. Miller, Tracy, 2021. "Evaluating Arguments for Antitrust Action against Tech Companies," Annals of Computational Economics, George Mason University, Mercatus Center, May.
    3. Nicolas Petit & David J Teece, 2021. "Innovating Big Tech firms and competition policy: favoring dynamic over static competition [Patterns of industrial innovation]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 30(5), pages 1168-1198.
    4. Yannis Katsoulacos & David Ulph, 2023. "Choosing legal rules or standards in antitrust enforcement: A proposal for extending and facilitating the use of the decision‐theoretic approach," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(4), pages 1876-1894, June.

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