Morissa Falk, Jay Himes, Jan 25, 2010
The debate over RPM centers on the fact that vertical price-fixing’s purpose is to increase an item’s price beyond that likely to prevail absent the price-fixing. As a leading commentator has said, RPM “tends to produce higher consumer prices than would otherwise be the case. The evidence is persuasive on this point.”Dissenting in Leegin, Justice Breyer estimated, albeit roughly, an impact of $750 – $1000 per year for a family of four.
Increasing an item’s price usually is thought of as harming consumers, and hence agreements that do so raise…
