In light of the continuing regulatory changes in competition enforcement policies around the world, and in response to increasing demand from antitrust attorneys and regulators, NERA has published a Japanese edition of Economics of Antitrust: New Issues, Questions, and Insights. Edited by Senior Vice President Dr. Lawrence Wu, the book offers a provocative look at today’s issues and questions surrounding antitrust public policy and litigation. The anthology features work authored by 16 NERA economists.

Copies of the Japanese edition are available for ¥2400 and may be ordered via the Amazon.co.jp website. More information on the Economics of Antitrust book series may be found at www.economicsofantitrust.com.

As with the original English edition, the Japanese translation contains perspectives that should prove indispensable to antitrust attorneys, government regulators, economists, academicians, students, and others seeking a full understanding of the topic. The Japanese edition also features an additional foreword written by Professor Kotaro Suzumura of the Institute of Economic Research at Hitotsubashi University, who is also Director of Japan’s Fair Trade Commission Competition Policy Research Center.

By showing how economics is applied in the “real world,” the book provides insights into compelling issues including:

• How price discrimination may be beneficial to consumers by enhancing competition and lowering prices.
• How to distinguish anticompetitive predatory pricing from aggressive competition.
• Why and how specific market facts and circumstances can determine whether a merger of two competing companies might or might not lead to higher prices for consumers.
• Why high accounting profits do not imply that a company has market power.
• Why a conventional application of traditional antitrust principles should not be relied upon to assess mergers that raise competitive concerns about the level and pace of R&D.
• Why it is important to look beyond market shares when evaluating the competitive effects of a proposed merger.