Question

A law that prohibits anti-competitive conduct, whether by two or more separate entities participating in a common scheme or plan intended to unreasonably restrain trade, or by a single entity attempting to create a monopoly.

Answer 1

The question pertains to U.S. antitrust laws, which prohibit anti-competitive practices like cartels, price-fixing, and bid-rigging, and are enforced by the FTC and DOJ.

Step-by-step explanation:

The subject of the question relates to U.S. antitrust laws, which are designed to prevent anti-competitive practices and promote fair competition in the marketplace. These laws address actions that can harm consumers and the economy, such as creating monopolies, price-fixing, bid-rigging, and other forms of collusion. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) enforce these laws to ensure that businesses operate fairly and do not engage in behavior that reduces competition, which include both mergers that can decrease competition and a variety of anticompetitive practices.

In summary, antitrust laws forbid a range of activities, such as the creation of cartels, collusive pricing, output decisions by competing firms, bid-rigging, and dividing markets. These laws are not only concerned with explicit agreements that would directly affect prices or production quantities, but also with restrictive practices - behaviors that could indirectly limit competition. Antitrust cases can be complex as they delve into specific contractual agreements or business practices that may be permissible in some situations but prohibited in others.