Four Myths about Price Discrimination

In an earlier post, Soda Prices are Too Low for the FTC, the Biden Administration seems to be trying to turn back the clock to a time when price discrimination was viewed as bad.  Lest we repeat the mistakes of the past, it is worthwhile to remember its lessons.   

 See this 2003 talk by some middling FTC economists. Here the conclusions:  

 

BOTTOM LINE:  Determining the role that price discrimination plays in antitrust enforcement typically requires the kind of difficult and time consuming economic analysis the Biden administration is trying to avoid.

Cooper, James C. and Froeb, Luke M. and O'Brien, Daniel P. and Tschantz, Steven T., Does Price Discrimination Intensify Competition? Implications for Antitrust (2005). Antitrust Law Journal, Vol. 72, No. 2, pp. 327-373, 2005, George Mason Law & Economics Research Paper No. 14-30, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2470135

Werden, Gregory J. and Froeb, Luke M., Can the FTC Turn Back the Clock? (August 15, 2021). Antitrust Magazine Online, Oct. 2021, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3909851