Reforming the Robinson-Patman Act to Serve Consumers and Control Powerful Buyers

Posted by Social Science Research Network

Reforming the Robinson-Patman Act to Serve Consumers and Control Powerful Buyers–  John B. Kirkwood (Seattle University)

Abstract: The conventional scholarly response to the Robinson-Patman Act is to urge that it be repealed. Too often R-P enforcement protects small business at the expense of consumers, and frequently it does not even protect small business. In this article I suggest that a better response is to reform the Robinson-Patman Act.

The first step would be to change its goal – to reorient it from a statute designed to protect small business to one designed to promote competition. This is easily done. The second step is to eliminate, in purely equitable actions, the meeting competition and cost justification defenses, since these defenses frequently block enforcement action against powerful buyers, even when their behavior endangers consumers. Though not the focus of this article, the final step would be to make conforming changes in the Act’s technical and jurisdictional requirements and its treatment of promotional discrimination.