Book Review: Welfare Economics and Antitrust Policy

• Published date: 01 December 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0003603X231201430
• Author: Nicolas Petit,Thibault Schrepel
• Date: 01 December 2023
• Subject Matter: Book Review

The Antitrust Bulletin

2023, Vol. 68(4) 666 –668

© The Author(s) 2023

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Book Review

Book Review

Richard S. Markovits (2021). Welfare Economics and Antitrust Policy. 357 pp. $109,99 (Vol 1),

394pp. $89,99 (Vol 2). Springer.

Reviewed by: Nicolas Petit, Professor, Competition Law, European University Institute, Florence, Italy; Invited

Professor, College of Europe, Brugge, Belgium

Thibault Schrepel, Associate Professor, Law, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Faculty

Affiliate, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0003603X231201430

Richard S. Markovits’ contribution to antitrust economics cannot be underplayed. From his analysis of

tying in the late 1960s to the present day, Professor Markovits has consistently provided a heterodox

voice in a field often dominated by trends and fashions. His latest book, “Welfare Economics and

Antitrust Policy” (Springer, 2021), lives up to his reputation and provides an original overview of the

economic issues involved in modern antitrust policy. Markovits not only addresses subjects that are

absent from the antitrust literature (1), but he also offers a unique take on various topics that are heavily

discussed (2).

I. Markovits Outside the Mainstream

“Welfare Economics and Antitrust Policy” offers a unique perspective on antitrust policy. As intro-

duced in Chapter 2, Markovits counters the economic efficiency approach advocated by Chicago schol-

ars as the sole methodology for evaluating practices with a moral rights approach. Markovits explains

that one finds different conceptions of the moral good (i.e., a normative concept referring to the set of

things that are morally desirable or valuable) in what he calls “liberal-moral-rights-based society” (i.e.,

societies committed to protecting individual moral rights such as the right to life, liberty, and property).

These concepts, he argues, are more helpful in assessing the legality of practices than relying on the

concept of economic efficiency, because efficiency has no intrinsic value.

To be clear, Markovits does not separate the legality of practices from their economic effects, but he

does make economic theory a variable in, among other things, defining what is morally good and thus

permissible in antitrust law. The logic is this: governments (and enforcers) may prefer different norma-

tive positions (e.g., liberalism, utilitarianism, various non-utilitarian variants of egalitarianism, and

libertarianism). Each of these positions has different economic implications. For example, utilitarian-

ism requires a comprehensive evaluation which, in Markovits view, involves (1) assessing the mone-

tary gains and losses associated with the choice at hand; (2) identifying the individuals or groups who

would experience gains or losses, paying particular attention to their characteristics that affect the

marginal utility of money within relevant ranges; (3) estimating the average marginal utility for the

winners and losers, derived from the equivalent-dollar gains and losses they each experience; (4) mul-

tiplying the estimates of relevant equivalent-dollar gains and losses by the corresponding average mar-

ginal utility estimates; and (5) comparing the resulting products to determine the overall outcome.

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