Follow or Buck the Trend: How and Why the State Regulates Private Companies’ Trade Policies in Russia and Abroad

Abstract

Book Review: Radchenko T., Avdasheva S., Kurdin A., Shastitko A. (2013) Praktika i vozmozhnye posledstviya antimonopol’noi reglamentatsii torgovoi politiki chastnoi kompanii [The Practice and Possible Consequences of the Antitrust Regulation of Trade Policies Run by Private Companies], Moscow: MAX Press.

Maxim Markin — Lecturer, Sub-Department of Economic Sociology, Higher School of Economics. Address: office 530, 9–11 Myasnitskaya St., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation. E-mail: mmarkin@hse. ru

The book under review was written by a group of well-known Russian experts in the economic analysis of antitrust regulation. The book is divided into two parts: the first reviews key theories which stand behind the practice of antitrust regulation and the possible effects of this regulation; the second discusses the results from empirical studies carried out in Russia and other countries. The book will be of great interest to economists, lawyers and other social scientists for different reasons. Economists will find various applications of neoclassical microeconomic models and the new institutional economic theory of the analysis of antitrust regulation. Lawyers will potentially be interested in the vast amount of empirical data on Russian arbitration practice, and cases drawn from international experience. Social scientists can reflect upon the compulsory and voluntary natures of economic activity in Russia, its legitimization, and the role of the state and the justification for its intervention in economic processes. Some of the topics discussed are closely connected with the previous studies carried by the authors and other researchers in Russia and abroad. Using empirical data the authors demonstrate that there are several contradictory outcomes of the antitrust regulation on the business activities run by private companies in Russia.