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10 - A Neo-Kantian Approach to Competition Law?

The Re-emergence of Fairness in Antitrust Law and Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2025

Ramsi A. Woodcock
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky
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Summary

During times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers and the public reveal a strong preference for fairness in pricing even when that would reduce efficiency. For example, they support the application of price gouging laws that prevent prices for necessities from skyrocketing but probably also dampen incentives for firms to produce more and alleviate the shortage. More generally, a growing body of research reveals that consumers have a strong preference for fairness over wealth maximization. This suggests that in making price policy, governments should abandon neoclassical economics and its wealth maximization criterion in favor of an approach that treats fairness in pricing as a first principle and paramount value. The chapter considers the implications of this "neo-Kantian" approach to price policy for antitrust law and policy in particular.

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Toward an Inframarginal Revolution
Redistributing the Gains from Trade
, pp. 355 - 408
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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