Perhaps no area of antitrust law provokes as much controversy as predatory pricing, the theory that a firm violates the antitrust laws by setting its price too low.

Prof. Keith Hylton of Boston University School of Law presents this new introduction to “Law and the Future: Trade Regulation,†by Aaron Director and Edward H. Levi.

The antitrust laws of the United States have, from their inception, allowed firms to acquire significant market power, to charge prices that reflect that market power, and to enjoy supra-competitive returns. This article shows that this policy, which was established by the U.S. Congress and...