Global Competition Law, Markets and Globalization

by Gerber, David

• ISBN13: 9780199228225
• ISBN10: 0199228221
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-05-06
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Global competition now shapes economies and societies in ways unimaginable only a few years ago, and laws shape and maintain global competition, determining how effective global markets are and how they distribute benefits and harms. Competition (or "antitrust") law plays a central role in this framework of law. These laws are intended to protect the competitive process from distortion and restraint, and in the domestic context, they embody and reflect the relationships between markets, their participants and those affected by them. On the global level, however, competition law is provided by those players that have sufficient "power" to apply their laws transnationally. In practice, this means that the US and the EU generally provide the competition law principles for global competition. This book examines this important and controversial aspect of globalization. Part I examines the evolution of the current system of competition law for global markets, the factors that have shaped it, and how it operates today. There was once a widespread belief that harm to global competition was an international problem that should be addressed through international coordination, but the Cold War submerged this ideal and led to the current system. Since the 1990s efforts have been made to develop transnational cooperation in this area, but the basic system remains in place. The evolution and operation of this system cannot be understood without understanding the factors in national experience that have shaped them. The second part of the book focuses on these national experiences and the roles they have played in the evolution of the global system. It examines US and European experience as well as the experience of the newer players such as China that will necessarily play major roles in the future. Finally, the book examines the potential for creating a system that functions more effectively and provides more support for global economic and political development. Drawing on parts I and II and on social science as well as legal literature, it identifies the factors that will play a role in moving towards a more effective legal framework for global competition and suggests a pathway for needed reforms.

Author Biography

David J. Gerber, B.A. Trinity College (Conn.), M.A. Yale, J.D., University of Chicago is Distinguished Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law. He has been a visiting professor on the law faculties of the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University and Washington University in the United States and the Universities of Munich and Freiburg in Germany and Uppsala and Stockholm in Sweden. He has been a visiting fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs of Princeton University and at the Max Planck Institute for Research in Collective Goods in Bonn, Germany, and he has been a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan.

Table of Contents

1: Law, Competition, and Global Markets
Part I Sovereignty as the Framework for Global Competition
2: Global Competition Law: A Project Conceived and Abandoned
3: Sovereignty as a Solution: Extending the Reach of National Laws
4: Globalization and Competition Law: Conflict, Uncertainty, and the Promise of Convergence
Part II Domestic Experience and Global Competition Law
5: US Antitrust Law: Model and Lens
6: Competition Law in Europe: Market, Community, and Integration
7: Globalization, Development, and 'Other Players': Widening the Lens
Part III Competition Law as a Transnational Project
8: Convergence as Strategy: Scope and Limits
9: Reconceiving Competition Law for Global Markets: Agreements, Commitments, and Pathways
10: Global Competition and Law: Trajectories and Promises
1. Introduction: Competition, Law and the Global Economy
Part I Law, Sovereignty and Global Competition: The Evolving Relationship
2. Global Competition Law: A Project Conceived and Abandoned
3. Sovereignty as Solution: Extending the Reach of National Laws
4. Globalization, Competition and Law: Conflict, Uncertainty and the Promise of Convergence
Part II National Competition Law Experience and Global Competition: Shaping interests, Perceptions and Values
5. US Antitrust Law Experience: Model and Lens
6. Market, Community and Integration: Competition Law in Europe
7. Competition Law and The Newer Players
Part III Competition Law as a Transnational Project
8. The Potential Value of Global Competition Law
9. Reconceiving Competition Law for Global Markets
10. Toward a Legal Framework for Global Competition?