Free to download · 2026
Modern Economic Analysis and Antitrust Law: A Guide
Antitrust economics, decision theory, and legal standards
Steven C. Salop
A paperback edition is forthcoming through Kindle Direct Publishing. Paperback link coming soon.
Open access scholarship
A modern guide to the economics of antitrust
This work presents a modern economics approach to antitrust law. It expands upon and supplements traditional legal analysis of antitrust law and policy by analyzing antitrust legal standards and case law through the lenses of industrial organization economics and decision theory. The 13 chapters provide a framework and overview of broad economic topics—collusive conduct, exclusionary conduct, and merger competitive effects—to help readers understand and analyze antitrust legal standards and their evolution through the interaction of the antitrust statutes and ideology, economic analysis, and decision theory. This framework and approach can facilitate more rigorous and sophisticated economic analysis of market conduct.
Applying decision theory to this analysis can also lead to greater coherence in antitrust law and policy. The work is intended to be a comprehensive introductory guide for students, practitioners, and anyone else interested in learning the core of modern antitrust economics. Understanding the economics of antitrust and being able to apply relevant economic reasoning are critical to the successful practice of antitrust law and understanding the evolution of antitrust law. In addition to providing an analytic framework and broad concepts, the material is designed to analyze specific issues and cases studied in antitrust law, economics, and business school courses. As a guidebook, the cases are organized by the anticompetitive mechanisms of collusive and exclusionary conduct rather than by the relevant section of the Sherman or Clayton Act.
Rigorous and accessible
Complex topics are explained with intuition and care, while retaining the depth experts need.
Built for teaching
Read the full book or work chapter by chapter, with a dedicated public area for instructor materials.
Free to download
The complete textbook, Preface, table of contents, and individual chapters are free to download without a password or paywall.
“
To understand how antitrust issues should be analyzed today, there is no better guide than Steve Salop, the intellectual leader of post-Chicago antitrust.
Jonathan B. Baker, Professor of Law Emeritus, American University
“
In this book, Professor Salop brings a lifetime of analysis, teaching, and practical experience to bear on the entire antitrust project. The result is educational, provocative, and fresh, with something for every reader, from the new law student to the veteran litigator. It is a compelling demonstration of the power and promise of economic reasoning to guide antitrust cases to the right results.
Daniel Francis, Associate Professor Law, New York University School of Law
“
This monograph locates his work in the broader context of antitrust and will be an essential resource for students, policymakers, and practitioners.
Andrew I. Gavil, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law
“
Sufficiently deep to be useful to experts while nevertheless remaining accessible to students and nonexperts.
Erik Hovenkamp, Professor of Law, Cornell University Law School
Modern Economic Analysis and Antitrust Law: A Guide 