Fuchs, Andreas --- "Introducing More Features of Real Life into the Economists’ World of Theoretical Models – Comments on Justus Haucap, Bart Wilson and Christoph Engel" [2011] ELECD 351; in Drexl, Josef; Kerber, Wolfgang; Podszun, Rupprecht (eds), "Competition Policy and the Economic Approach" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Competition Policy and the Economic Approach

Editor(s): Drexl, Josef; Kerber, Wolfgang; Podszun, Rupprecht

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848448841

Section: Chapter 14

Section Title: Introducing More Features of Real Life into the Economists’ World of Theoretical Models – Comments on Justus Haucap, Bart Wilson and Christoph Engel

Author(s): Fuchs, Andreas

Number of pages: 7

Extract:

14. Introducing more features of real
life into the economists' world of
theoretical models ­ comments on
Justus Haucap, Bart Wilson and
Christoph Engel
Andreas Fuchs

1. INTRODUCTION

Each of the three profound and enlightening chapters in this part contains
many interesting features which would deserve closer attention. However, it
is not up to me as a lawyer to deal with the general foundations and specific
limitations of behavioural, experimental, and New Institutional economics,
or to go into any details with regard to formal economic models. Therefore,
I confine myself to some rather general remarks, and concentrate on just
one question looking through the lawyer's lense: what is the possible use of
these modern economic approaches for legal antitrust thinking?
But let me start with a little story. For thousands of years everyone
in Europe was convinced that swans are always white. There was indu-
bitable empirical evidence to sustain this belief. Then, in the eighteenth
century when Europeans explored Australia, some adventurers found an
unknown kind of animal that had all the features of a swan but was black.
How do you cope with the discovery of a black swan? You may stick to
your definition that a swan has to be white, and invent a different name
for the new animal, e.g. `blan'. But you may also give up your firm belief
that the only swans existing are white, and re-define the notion of `swan'
so as to include the possibility of a black swan. In ...