Final answer:
Maximum-price agreements are indeed as illegal as minimum-price agreements, as both are considered anticompetitive and violate antitrust laws intended to preserve market competition and protect consumers.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that maximum-price agreements are just as illegal as minimum-price agreements is true. Both types of agreements are considered anticompetitive and therefore illegal under antitrust laws, like those enforced in the United States and European Union. These laws prevent businesses from creating cartels and engaging in practices that would restrict competition within the market.
For instance, it is illegal for firms to form a cartel and collude on pricing, whether it is fixing minimum or maximum prices. Such practices would allow them to act similarly to a monopoly, which could lead to high profits at the expense of consumer choices and fair market pricing.
In practice, while a manufacturer cannot legally bind dealers to sell at a certain minimum price, it can suggest minimum advertised prices and potentially cease business with dealers that consistently sell below these suggested prices. This is a legal way to influence the pricing behavior of dealers without entering into a price-fixing agreement. Still, this can be a subtle distinction and is subject to scrutiny.
Another example of these antitrust laws in effect includes the U.S. laws that prohibit firms from agreeing to fix prices, share markets, rig bids, or allocate customers and territories among competitors.
These regulations are designed to maintain a competitive environment and protect the consumer from artificially inflated prices resulting from collusive behavior among firms.