Antitrust Policy and Regulation

What are the two main prohibitions outlined in the Sherman Act of 1890?

Under the Sherman Act, what is the specific financial penalty that parties injured by illegal business combinations can sue the perpetrators for?

Which antitrust law specifically prohibits tying contracts, where a producer requires that a buyer purchase an additional, separate product as a condition for obtaining the desired one?

The Clayton Act of 1914 prohibits interlocking directorates, which occur when a director of one firm is also on the board of a competing firm, under what specific condition?

The Celler-Kefauver Act of 1950 was enacted to close a specific loophole in the Clayton Act related to anticompetitive mergers. What was this loophole?

According to the '90-60-30 rule' that courts have roughly adhered to in defining monopoly, how would a firm with a 30 percent market share be classified?

What important principle regarding the legality of monopolies was established in the 1920 U.S. Steel case?

The 1945 Alcoa case represented a significant shift in antitrust interpretation from the earlier U.S. Steel case. What was the key finding in the Alcoa case?

In the 1956 DuPont cellophane case, how did the Supreme Court's definition of the relevant market lead to DuPont being found not guilty of possessing a monopoly?

Under the merger guidelines based on the Herfindahl index, the U.S. government is likely to challenge a horizontal merger under which of the following conditions?

A merger between two firms that are direct competitors selling similar products in the same geographic market, such as the merger between Exxon and Mobil, is defined as what type of merger?

A merger between a firm producing denim fabric and a firm producing blue jeans would be classified as what type of merger?

The merger between an auto manufacturer and a blue jeans producer is cited as an example of what type of merger?

Under U.S. antitrust law, why are activities like price-fixing considered per se violations?

In 2007, British Airlines and Korean Air each agreed to pay a fine of what amount for conspiring to fix fuel surcharges on passenger tickets and cargo?

In the landmark antitrust case United States v. Microsoft, the district court ruled that Microsoft had monopoly power based on its share of the market for software used to operate Intel-compatible personal computers. What was this market share?

The initial district court remedy in the U.S. v. Microsoft case was a structural one, but the final outcome was different. What was the final remedy imposed on Microsoft?

What is the defining characteristic of an industry that is considered a natural monopoly?

According to the public interest theory of regulation, what is the main objective of regulating a natural monopoly?

Why might industrial regulation of a natural monopoly lead to cost inefficiency, also known as X-inefficiency?

What does the legal cartel theory of regulation propose as the reason for government regulation in some industries?

Beginning in the 1970s, the United States entered a period of deregulation. Which of the following industries was NOT mentioned in the text as having been deregulated to some degree?

What is the primary focus of social regulation, distinguishing it from industrial regulation?

Which of the following Federal agencies is primarily involved in social regulation rather than industrial regulation?

From an economic perspective, what determines the optimal level of social regulation?

The laissez-faire perspective on antitrust policy argues that government intervention against monopolies is often unnecessary because of what economic process that erodes monopoly power over time?

As an indirect result of its antitrust conviction, Microsoft made a payout of 1.6 billion dollars to which of the following companies?

Section 1 of the Sherman Act of 1890 explicitly declares which of the following to be illegal?

The Wheeler-Lea Act of 1938 amended the Federal Trade Commission Act, giving the FTC additional responsibility to police what specific type of activity?

An economist who argues that a firm's market structure, such as having a very high market share, is a legitimate target for antitrust action, regardless of its behavior, would be considered a what?

Consider a horizontal merger that results in a postmerger Herfindahl index of 1950. Before the merger, the index was 1800. Based on U.S. government guidelines, is this merger likely to be challenged?

In the late 19th century United States, what was the common term for large-scale business combinations that assigned control to a single decision group and often came to be synonymous with monopoly?

What was the fine imposed on UCAR International in 1998 by the U.S. Justice Department for its participation in a price-fixing scheme for graphite electrodes?

As part of the out-of-court settlement in the 1982 AT&T monopoly case, what was the primary remedy that the company agreed to?

In the United States, what has been the historically preferred policy option for dealing with natural monopolies like local public utilities?

How does social regulation primarily differ from industrial regulation in terms of its scope and application?

In the United States v. Microsoft case, which of the following actions by Microsoft was deemed illegal by the court as a means of maintaining its monopoly?

According to Section 2 of the Clayton Act, under what specific conditions is price discrimination illegal?

In a price-fixing case involving dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips in the early 2000s, what was the total amount of fines paid by the conspiring companies in 2004 and 2005?

What is the fundamental underlying purpose of U.S. antitrust policy?

What is the prevailing approach that U.S. courts have taken over the past 25 years when interpreting antitrust laws concerning monopoly cases?

What has been the consensus view among economists regarding the overall economic effect of deregulation in industries like airlines, railroads, and trucking?

In the United States v. Microsoft antitrust case, what did the district court define as the 'relevant market' where Microsoft was found to possess a 95 percent share?

Which of the following is identified in the text as a primary criticism of social regulation?

Defenders of social regulation argue that it has significantly enhanced society's well-being. Which of the following is cited in the text as a specific success or benefit of social regulation?

Why are conglomerate mergers, which involve the combination of firms in different industries, generally permitted under U.S. antitrust laws?

What major historical development in the United States during the 1870s and 1880s was a primary catalyst for the formation of trusts and the subsequent passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act?

The final settlement in the U.S. v. Microsoft case was a behavioral remedy. Which of the following was a specific component of this remedy?

Which two federal government bodies share the primary responsibility for enforcing U.S. antitrust laws?

In 2001, a court found the auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's guilty of what specific illegal activity?