In this edition of the Antitrust Literature Watch, we feature recent papers by attorneys, economists, and academics that are focused on issues pertinent to North American antitrust litigation, with a spotlight on class action litigation. The abstracts included below are as written by the author(s) and are unedited. Author affiliations and titles are reflected in the abstracts and papers. Included in this edition are:
- studies on class action litigation discussing reform in earlier-generation class action jurisdictions, statistics on class action filings and recoveries in federal court cases, the role of competition in customers’ reactions to announcements of class action lawsuits against firms, proof of injury before and after the Supreme Court’s Wal-Mart and Comcast decisions, and the role of states in the era of federalized class actions.
- articles on algorithms and antitrust debating how algorithms may affect competition and benefit consumers, the ability of existing antitrust laws to grapple with algorithmic collusion, the potential effects of artificial intelligence (AI)-based pricing algorithms acting without communications to others, and the design of platforms that use AI pricing algorithms to promote competition, improve consumer surplus, and increase profits.
- articles on COVID-19: competitor collaborations, collusion and compliance debating competitor collaborations during economic downturns such as the current pandemic, antitrust regulators’ guidance regarding procompetitive collaboration in relation to enforcement programs, the tools for cartel enforcement and the DOJ’s collusion strike force, and uncertainty around price increases in light of state price-gouging laws.
- articles on digital platforms and the consumer welfare standard discussing antitrust enforcement in digital and high-tech markets in the presence of network effects and two-sided markets, antitrust enforcement and the adoption of the consumer welfare standard, concentration and bigness in the digital economy and differing views on whether it raises antitrust issues, price competition and platform design in two-sided networks, and the post-Chicago School and recoupment in digital predation.
- studies on privacy and antitrust discussing privacy as an element of competition and consumer welfare, Chrome’s removal of third-party cookies as de facto privacy regulation, and monopolization remedies relating to data privacy.
- articles on regulatory and enforcement frameworks discussing ex-ante and ex-post approaches to antitrust regulation of large technology firms, submissions to the House on using current antitrust law in addressing antitrust issues involving technology platforms, the potential application of AI and machine learning tools by enforcers in tackling monopoly and collusion in digital markets, essential facilities doctrine in the context of access to digital platforms, divergent views on antitrust enforcement beyond vertical mergers, and the role of big data in antitrust.
To learn more about these topics and other recent antitrust publications, click download for a PDF of Antitrust Literature Watch.
