Antitrust Law, Second Edition

When it was first published a quarter of a century ago, Richard Posner'\u0027s exposition and defense of an economic approach to antitrust law was a jeremiad against the intellectual disarray that then characterized the field.

As other perspectives on antitrust law have fallen away, Posner'\u0027s book has played a major role in transforming the field of antitrust law into a body of economically rational principles largely in accord with the ideas set forth in the first edition.

Today'\u0027s antitrust professionals may disagree on specific practices and rules, but most litigators, prosecutors, judges, and scholars agree that the primary goal of antitrust laws should be to promote economic welfare, and that economic theory should be used to determine how well business practices conform to that goal.In this thoroughly revised edition, Posner explains the economic approach to new generations of lawyers and students.

He updates and amplifies his approach as it applies to the developments, both legal and economic, in the antitrust field since 1976.

The \u0027new economy\u0027 for example, has presented a host of difficult antitrust questions, and in an entirely new chapter, Posner explains how the economic approach can be applied to new industries such as software manufacturers, Internet service providers, and those that provide communications equipment and services.

\u0027The antitrust laws are here to stay,\u0027 Posner writes, \u0027and the practical question is how to administer them better- more rationally, more accurately, more expeditiously, more efficiently.\u0027 This fully revised classic will continue to be the standard work in the field.