Antitrust Law, Second Edition - 2nd Edition by Richard a Posner (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The definitive textbook of antitrust law

Antitrust Law was fundamental to redefining the field of antitrust law and it remains the definitive textbook for those teaching or learning the subject, Richard Posner's book has played a major role in transforming the field of antitrust law into a body of economically rational principles largely in accord with the ideas set forth in the first edition. Today's antitrust professionals may disagree on specific practices and rules, but most litigators, prosecutors, judges, and scholars agree that the primary goal of antitrust laws should be to promote economic welfare, and that economic theory should be used to determine how well business practices conform to that goal.

In this thoroughly revised edition, Posner explains the economic approach to new generations of lawyers and students.

"The antitrust laws are here to stay," Posner writes, "and the practical question is how to administer them better-more rationally, more accurately, more expeditiously, more efficiently." This fully revised classic will continue to be the standard work in the field.

From the Back Cover

When first published a quarter of a century ago, Richard Posner's exposition and defense of an economic approach to antitrust law was a challenge to prevailing conceptions of antitrust policy. Since then, and in part as a result of the influence of the first edition, the antitrust field has been largely, although not completely, transformed into a body of economically rational principles consistent with the ideas set forth in the book. Today's antitrust professionals disagree on specific practices and rules, but most litigators, prosecutors, judges, and scholars agree that the primary goal of antitrust laws should be to promote economic welfare, and that economic theory should be used to determine how well business practices conform to that goal.

In this extensively revised edition, Posner explains the economic approach to new generations of lawyers and students. He updates and amplifies his approach as it applies to the developments, both legal and economic, in the antitrust field since 1976. The "new economy," for example, has presented a host of difficult antitrust questions, and a new chapter explains how the economic approach can be applied to it.

"The antitrust laws are here to stay," Posner writes, "and the practical question is how to administer them better-more rationally, more accurately, more expeditiously, more efficiently." This fully revised classic will continue to be a standard work in the field.

About the Author

Richard A. Posner is a judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and a senior lecturer in law at the University of Chicago Law School. His many books on the application of economics to law include Economic Analysis of Law, now in its fifth edition.