About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


53 Antitrust Bull. 241 (2008)
Defining Buyer Power

handle is hein.journals/antibull53 and id is 263 raw text is: THE ANTITRUST BULLETIN: Vol. 53, No. 2/Summer 2008 : 241 Defining buyer power BY ZHIQl CHEN* I. INTRODUCTION A casual reader of the literature on buyer power can be forgiven for feeling confused about what buyer power means. There are numerous definitions of buyer power that differ in both form and substance. Compounding the confusion is an array of terms that are often men- tioned in relation to buyer power, such as buying power, monopsony power, countervailing power, and bargaining power. But the relation- ships between these terms are not always clear. Through this article I hope to clear the confusions surrounding the meaning of buyer power. In section II of the article, I will review a number of existing definitions of buyer power and examine their relationships to monopsony power, countervailing power, and bargaining power. In section III, I will present my preferred definition of buyer power and emphasize the distinction between monopsony power and countervailing power. Finally, I will offer a few concluding remarks in section IV. * Professor of Economics, Carleton University, and Senior Consultant, Delta Economics Group. AUTHOR'S NOTE: For comments and discussions I thank an anonymous referee, Bert Foer, Paul Dobson, Gregory Gundlach, Jack Kirkwood, and other participants at the AAI Invitational Symposium on Buyer Power in June 2007. © 2008 by Federal Legal Publications, Inc.