Chapter Questions
Try to formulate a definition of the public interest.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the current system of controlling restrictive practices?
What problems are likely to arise in identifying which firms' practices are anti-competitive? Should the OFT take firms' assurances into account when deciding whether to grant an exemption?
If anti-monopoly legislation is effective enough, is there ever any need to prevent mergers from going ahead?
If two or more firms were charging similar prices, what types of evidence would you look for to prove that this was collusion rather than mere coincidence?
Should governments or regulators always attempt to eliminate the supernormal profits of monopolists/ oligopolists?
We can distinguish three clear stages in the development and application of technology: invention, innovation and diffusion. How might forms of technology policy intervention change at each stage of this process?
Governments and educationalists generally regard it as desirable that trainees acquire transferable skills. Why may many employers disagree?
There are externalities (benefits) when employers provide training. What externalities are there from the undergoing of training by the individual? Do they imply that individuals will choose to receive more or less than the socially optimal amount of training?