This coordination may include the collective setting of certain prices and other controversial network rules. Such practices have recently come under the scrutiny of antitrust authorities in the U.S. and abroad. In this article, Bob Hunt describes the economics of the payment card industry and explains how it differs from the textbook model of competitive markets. He argues that these differences should be reflected in the antitrust analysis of payment card networks.
This article appeared in the Second Quarter 2003 edition of Business Review.
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