Learning by litigating: An application to antitrust commitments

Journal article: This paper examines the impact of commitment decisions on the efficiency of antitrust enforcement. We discuss the optimal use of commitments considering past rulings as a source of knowledge to better assess future similar antitrust cases. Our framework combines two key effects: the deterrence of the anticompetitive behavior by the different enforcement regimes, and the dynamic perspective through litigation as a source of learning. We show that if the level of penalty is high enough, the antitrust authorities undervalue the dynamic informational benefit of litigation and tend to over-use commitments.

Author(s)

Andreea Cosnita-Langlais, Jean-Philippe Tropeano

Journal
  • International Journal of Industrial Organization
Date of publication
  • 2022
Keywords JEL
D82 K21 L41
Keywords
  • Antitrust
  • Commitments
  • Deterrence
  • Legal learning
Version
  • 1
Volume
  • 80