Final answer:
Price Fixing, Price Discrimination, Deceptive Pricing, and Predatory Pricing are pricing issues with legal implications, each matching a specific description of conspiracy among firms, varying prices to different buyers, misleading price deals, and charging low prices to eliminate competition, respectively.
Step-by-step explanation:
To match the pricing issues that have legal implications to their correct descriptions:
- Price Fixing is the conspiracy among firms to set prices, which falls under description A.
- Price Discrimination is when a firm is charging different prices to different buyers for goods of like grade and quality, described in B.
- Deceptive Pricing involves price deals that mislead consumers, aligning with description C.
- Predatory Pricing is the act of charging a very low price for a product with the intent of driving competitors out of business, as indicated in description D.
Predatory pricing, for instance, is used by existing firms to implement sharp but temporary price cuts designed to discourage new competition, creating barriers to market entry. This practice can reduce competition and is considered a violation of U.S. antitrust law. Identifying when pricing tactics are predatory, as opposed to legitimate market competition, is challenging. Especially problematic is determining if prices are set below the average variable cost, indicating potential predatory pricing.