The techniques used by the economic expert witnesses in FTC v. Whole Foods Market illustrate the sophistication and complexity of modern empirical merger analysis. In this issue of Antitrust, we explain the intuition behind these techniques and discuss how the results can be used to assess the...

Rewheel, a Finnish consultancy, periodically issues reports that it portrays as international competitiveness comparisons of retail prices for mobile wireless services across the globe. However, these comparisons are not accurate representations of the state of competition in the mobile wireless...

This paper analyzes the competitive effect of a new product introduction. We break the overall competitive effect into two parts: the effect on the prices of existing products due to increased competition, and the effect of having additional product variety. Using data from both before and after...

In 2004, the US Supreme Court denied certiorari in LePage's, Inc. v. 3M. The decision ended a hotly contested litigation, but it fueled the controversy and debate over the competitive effects of bundled rebates and discounts. The Supreme Court's decision followed the recommendations of the US...

Simulation is the use of a structural economic model to predict the effects of a change in economic conditions or policy. Simulation has wide application in competitive analysis, from merger review to the calculation of damages in antitrust and patent infringement litigation. It provides a...