Federal Trade Commission

There are different types of businesses, for example, some use monopolies, trust and pools, while other eliminate competition for higher prices. As stated in “Progressive reformers regarded regulation as a cure for all sorts of socioeconomic and political problems” , “The Sherman Act of 1890 attempted to outlaw the restriction of competition by large companies that co-operated with rivals to fix outputs, prices, and market shares, initially through pools and later through trusts” , meaning, competition is the

Antitrust laws are federal and state government laws that regulate the conduct and organization or businesses. This helps promote fair competition for consumers. There are four main areas involving the

Antitrust law in the United States is a collection of federal and state government laws regulating the conduct and organization of business corporations with the intent to promote fair competition in an open-market economy for the benefit of the public. Congress passed the first antitrust statute, the Sherman Antitrust Act, in 1890 in response to the public outrage toward big business. In 1914, Congress passed two additional antitrust laws: the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Act. (The Antitrust Laws. Web.)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been in protecting consumer privacy on the internet by targeting deceptive and unfair trade practices since the act was establish in 1914( Halbert & Ingulli, 2012, p. 253). According to Halbert & Ingulli (2012) the FTC banned

The Federal Communication Commission or FCC was created by the Communications Act of 1934. The Federal Communication Commission is responsible for regulating interstate and international communication through modes of communication like radio, television, and satellite. Although the Federal Communication Commission does have some negative consequences the positive implications that resulted because of the creation of the FCC outweigh them.

Since colonial times, monopolies have been present in the United States’s economy. But as always, with time comes change, and that situation directly applies to the monopolies in this country. A monopoly is defined as the exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes the manipulation of prices possible. Monopolies had a negative impact on the United States due their unfairness to consumers and laborers, they don’t allow for innovation, and they stifle all competition.

The purpose of antitrust policy is to promote competition, which leads to lower prices.  If a company had the power of price control that comes with being a monopoly, they would profit by picking the quantity/price that equals the highest revenue for their company.  This would be likely a lower quantity and higher price than would prevail if there was competition.

The FTC stands for the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC are the United States of Americas consumer protection agency. This agency is responsible for ensuring the Equal Credit Opportunity Act is enforced.

I think you explain the concept in a clear manner. I just want to add about the how antitrust laws prevent industries from becoming monopolies, Antitrust principles promote competition and rivalry among providers of a service or good. Hopefully increasing the supply will lead to the best allocation of resources, and lower prices, in contrast with anti-competitive industries that would force the consumers to deal with the lack of choices and may raise prices too. Some might say that the Affordable Care Act could resemble a monopoly due to the fact that it enourages healthcare coordination and integration, but I think that since the system currently shows a high level of dissagregation that needs to be corrected in order to optimize the services

Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, in part, states that “every contract, combination… or conspiracy, in the restraint of trade or commerce… is declared to be illegal.” (Sherman Act, 2006). This law provides “a comprehensive charter of economic liberty aimed at preserving free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade (Northern Pacific Railway Company vs. United States, 1958; Reiter vs. Sonotone Corporation, 1979). It relies on a fundamental belief in supply and demand (Baum Research & Development Company vs. Hillerich & Bradsby, 1998).

The administrative body established by the Fair Competition Act is the Fair Trading Commission(FTC) which is appointed by the government, has power to summon and examine documents, administer oaths and to take legal action in the Supreme Court against any business or individual found guilty of uncompetitive practices (Harinott

Competitive markets provide the economy with opportunity for entrepreneurship and innovation. Competitive markets allow the small business environment to compete with other small businesses. With a competitive market, American consumers gain more innovative products, better quality goods and services and lower prices. Having more innovative products is a positive effect of the competitive market because innovation allows new businesses to enter the marketplace with the demand of new products at competing prices. Competitive markets seek out innovation, because without innovation from competing small businesses competitive markets would have nothing to compete against. The Antitrust Division makes sure that the economy and the competitive market are protected by an enforcement program that pursues illegal cartels, anticompetitive mergers, monopolizations, and competition advocacy (Barnett, 2008 page 2). The Antitrust Division makes sure that cartels do not control the price or the availability of the critical inputs small businesses need to manage business and to create the products. The Division actively ensures that mergers do not harm the local market of competition and encourages businesses to stay competitive with other small businesses. In the small business sector, monopolizations can harm the

Per-se illegality and the rule of reason are two approached commonly used to evaluate the legality of agreements under competition law. The distinction between per se illegality and the rule of reason is fundamental in the U.S. for the application of Section 1 of the Sherman Act , and has been adopted in other jurisdictions. A per se violation requires no further inquiry into the actual effects of the practice on the market or the intention of individuals engaged in the practice. By contrast, under the rule of reason, in addition to proving the existence of the alleged conduct, its anti-competitive effects need to be shown to outweigh any alleged pro-competitive effects. The application of per-se rule was considered appropriate in those cases

There are several interesting topics professor Aggarwal discussed in Econ 140, the two topics I found most interesting were predatory pricing and vertical integration. Predatory pricing is a method used by firms to lessen competition by essentially eliminating them out of the market. It is the act of charging a price below the firm's own marginal cost in order to drive out a rival out of the market. Once the firm successfully drives the rival out of the market it is free to increase its price and charge its desired price. Predatory pricing is only optimal when the firm’s present value of the future profits is greater than the loss profits needed to drive out competitors. The predator must have the sufficient amount of financial resources to participate in such an act, so it can outlast the prey, the competitor. The two firms therefore compete in a price war which is beneficial to the consumer during the price war, however when the predator wins it will essentially have a monopoly and drive up prices far more than usual. Predatory pricing is an illegal act, however it is difficult to prove due to the fact that it can be portrayed as price competition and not a deliberate act. It is not illegal for a firm to lower its pricing as it could be seen as a competitive action. The Federal Trade Commission carefully examines claims of predatory pricing for this reason because it is legitimate business practice. Strict enforcement of rules against predatory pricing could lead to firms

Most of the countries approved their competition policy in order to fulfill the market fair competitiveness and protect customer interest, guard against improperly gaining in the business environment Regulators aim to enhance market power/efficiency as much as possible.