Patrick McNutt’s paper at a symposium hosted by the Faculty of Law, Universite du Luxembourg, European Court of Justice and European Association of Law and Economics argued that the infusion of economics into competition and antitrust law has focused the antitrust debate on the protection of consumer welfare, and latterly, enhancing economic efficiency. It has established a ‘best’ outcome described in terms of (perfect) competition. A more appropriate model in our search for the ‘best’ outcome may be found in a model that incorporates an institutional dimension of society – an economic system that includes a portion of the political and legal structure as well. A model of a corporate economy rather than a model of a firm: a model that recognises that certain markets will in time be organised into a cartel or consolidated through some type of government regulated intervention. Copy of the paper can be located in Recent Conference Papers icon in this web page.
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