Competition

Competition

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Competition

1. The Antitrust law refers to the law of competition, which has four major pieces.
   1. The Sherman Act, 1890 offers prohibitions concerning conspiracies, contracts, and combinations in moderation of trade and monopolization in which violation of such a law results in criminal penalties imposed by the government.
   2. The Clayton Act, 1914 specifically deals with certain types of restraints such as mergers and acquisition, price discrimination arrangements and dealing as well as interlocking directorates where it carries civic penalties, which are advocated by both the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division
   3. The Federal Trade Commission Act, 1914 is chaired by the same agency and functions by focusing on all the prohibitions included in the antitrust laws and it deals with the specific loopholes that tend to appear within the explicit regulatory statutes.
   4. The Celler-Kefauver Act, 1950 deals primarily with mergers by targeting mergers involving occasional competitors and organization purchasing supplies in securing production (Jacobson, & American Bar Association, 2007).
2. Industrial regulation imposed upon companies serves the purpose of reducing market control of monopolies.
   1. In a monopolistic market, the government imposes industrial regulations in order to improve the quality of service, prevent excess pricing, to promote competition, encouraging monopsony power and to facilitate the growth of natural monopolies.
   2. The regulation of oligopoly markets is enforced in order to ensure the monopolist produces less while offering a higher charge. It provides the opportunity of encouraging oligopsony, to collect extra market profits, which benefit the market in the creation of net consumers (Thomas & Carson, 2011).
3. The three key federal and state regulatory commissions governing industrial regulation have diverse functions.
   1. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (1930) as the powers and duty pertaining to the establishment of the charge or rate for the transportation of pipelined oil, electricity, gas, water-powered sites and gas-pipelines.
   2. The Federal Communications Commission’s main functions include maintaining and enforcing the Communications Act, informing and educating users and consumers about telecommunication services, goods and regulation, regulating satellite, radio and television broadcast as well as bearing the responsibility for regulations and rules pertaining to VoIP service providers and telephone companies.
   3. The State Public Unity Commission’s functions include setting a set of utility deals and rates and the necessary adjustments while supervising and regulating the public utilities’ activities (Regulatory Commissions, 2014).
4. Social regulation unlike industrial regulation focuses on the company’s impacts on the on citizens, consumers, and employees. The government imposes such regulations in order achieve certain goals.
   1. To obtain socially desirable ends those not only benefit the firms but also the consumers and the public.
   2. To offer protection against discriminatory practices among employees and ensures employee work in safe and healthy environments, thereby creating better working environments. Additionally, it aims at
   3. To protect consumers against risky and harmful products through a thorough check of goods before they are distributed for selling. In order
   4. To ensure that there is reduced pollution, which would reduce cases of harmful side effects on the population (Thomas & Carson, 2011).
5. Social regulation is governed by three major federal regulatory commissions.
   1. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was legislated in 1930 and it is accountable for regulating the transmission of natural gas, oil, and electricity. The FERC has jurisdiction over wholesale electric sale, interstate electricity sales, oil pipeline rates, hydroelectric licensing, and natural gas pricing while authorizing pipelines, liquefied natural gas, and non-federal hydropower projects.
   2. The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) key responsibilities range from sustaining decency standards premeditated to protect the public good to issuing of in service licenses for TV and radio stations.
   3. State Public Utility Commissions (PUC) regulates the train and telecommunications industries, as well as the privately owned water, gas and electricity (Regulatory Commissions, 2014).

 

References

Jacobson, J. M., & American Bar Association. (2007). Antitrust law developments (sixth). Chicago, Ill: Section of Antitrust Law, ABA.

Regulatory Commissions (2014). National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Retrieved from http://www.naruc.org/commissions/CommissionsList.cfm

Thomas, W. L., & Carson, R. B. (2011). The American economy: How it works and how it doesn’t. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe.