Predation and the Logic of the Average Variable Cost Test

William Baumol

Journal of Law and Economics, 1996, vol. 39, issue 1, 49-72

Abstract: This article explores principles for execution of the widely accepted Areeda-Turner test of predatory pricing. Defining an Areeda-Turner price as one that does not threaten to exclude any more-efficient supplier, I conclude that (1) any individual price that is not below average avoidable cost cannot be predatory; (2) thus, average avoidable cost, not marginal cost, is crucial in testing predation; (3) sets of prices of different products of the firm can violate the test if the revenues of any combinations of the firm's products fall short of the combined avoidable costs of those products; and (4) a firm's failure to maximize its profits during some relatively brief period is not by itself legitimate evidence of predation. Copyright 1996 by the University of Chicago.

Date: 1996
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Working Paper: Predation and the Logic of the Average Variable Cost Test (1994)
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