Page 673 - Economics

CONFIRMING PAGES

IN THIS CHAPTER YOU WILL LEARN:
• The core elements of the major antitrust
(antimonopoly) laws in the United States.
• Some of the key issues relating to the
30 • The economic principles and difficulties relating to
interpretation and application of antitrust laws.
the setting of prices (rates) charged by so-called
natural monopolies.
• The nature of “social regulation,” its benefits and
costs, and its optimal level.

Antitrust Policy and Regulation

We now can apply the economics of product markets (Part 6), resource markets (Part 7), and
government (Part 8) to selected microeconomic issues and policies.
In this chapter we look at three sets of government policies toward business: antitrust policy,
industrial regulation, and social regulation. Antitrust policy consists of the laws and government
actions designed to prevent monopoly and promote competition. Industrial regulation consists of
government regulation of firms’ prices (or “rates”) within selected industries. Social regulation is
government regulation of the conditions under which goods are produced, the physical characteris-
tics of goods, and the impact of the production and consumption of goods on society.
Then, in the remaining four chapters of Part 9, we discuss issues and policies relating to agriculture,
income inequality, health care, and labor markets (unions, discrimination, and immigration).

9/11/06 4:09:03 PM
mcc26632_ch30_581-597.indd 582 9/11/06 4:09:03 PM
mcc26632_ch30_581-597.indd 582