Book Reviews

• Published date: 01 December 1973
• Date: 01 December 1973
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0003603X7301800417
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

BOOK

RIWIEWS

903

Ingo Schmidt,

U8-amerikanische

und deutsche Wettbe-

werbspolitik gegenuber Marktmacht, Berlin: Dunckler

und Humblot (1973), 482 pp., 79 marks.

The

last

50 pages of this book set forth,

and

present argu-

ments in support of, various proposals

for

the treatment of

market power in the impending revision of the German law

against restraints of competition. The

rest

of the book pro-

vides the rationale

for

these proposals.

It

presents (a) a

theoretical analysis of the concept of workable competition

and

of its

appropriate

application to competition policy,

and

(b) a comparative analysis of the way American and German

competition laws have been applied to external and internal

growth by powerful enterprises and to types of conduct (such

as boycott, refusal to sell, price discrimination, and exclusive

dealing) by which such enterprises have hindered the activity

of others. Mr. Schmidt's effort has been to formulate a com-

petition policy well-rooted in economic theory and democratic

political theory; to use it as a basis for acritique of Amer-

ican and German policies toward manifestations of market

power; thereby to identify strengths, weaknesses,

and

gaps

in existing policies;

and

to propose such changes in German

law as the analyses suggest.

The theoretical analysis rests upon comprehensive exam-

ination of most of the important American

and

German writ-

ings about the theory of competition policy during the

last

quarter

century. The critique of legal policies rests upon ex-

amination of the significant German

and

American cases

and

the more important discussions of these in books

and

law

journals. The book as a whole is a carefully documented

and

well-reasoned endeavor to synthesize theory and practice in

a way

that

can provide guides to policy.

It

is worth careful

reading. Though

its

focus is upon revision of the German

law, its suggestions contain much

that

is relevant to policy

in the United States.

Two of the book's appendices provide material not other-

wise readily available in this

country-a

case index

that

eov-