Antitrust Regulaton: Group Activity

The page is authored by Chris McNamara, Finger Lakes Community College.
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This material is replicated on a number of sites as part of the SERC Pedagogic Service Project

Summary

For this group activity, students will brainstorm with each other what various antitrust concepts apply to the situation. They will review the antitrust concepts, and determine which ones will help them decide if there is a violation. The group will present their findings to the class via a presentation.


Learning Goals

Students will identify for each of the following a realistic example of: Collusion, Barriers to entry, Definition of the market, and Concentration ratio.

Context for Use

For small classes - 10 to 30 students - this excercise will work well. Have students work in groups of 2 to 5, depending on the size of your class. Also, this should work well if your class time is 80 minutes or longer. You could do this in one complete class. If your class is only 50 minutes long or shorter, divide up assignment into two classes. Have students meet in their group during class for 30 minutes to brainstorm. Then, bring everyone together to hear each group present. If you have a projector and/or computer labs, you could ask students to prepare a slide. However, that might not be necessary. You might want to ask each group to write on a whiteboard the concpets they thought about, and then when everyone is done the whole class can look up and see what you accomplished as a class. If something important is missing, then it gives you the opportunity to go over this with them.

Description and Teaching Materials

Two files are uploaded: One for the activity, and another for suggested responses.




Teaching Notes and Tips

I would include this in your course outline. Perhaps mention this to your students one or two classes in advance.

Assessment

By seeing what students are coming up with, as compared to the possible solutions sheet, and reaction from the other students, this should tell you if the students are understanding the concepts.
Suggested rubric:
Presentation skills 20%
Bringing up of concepts30%
Critical thinking -
Is it antitrust and
why (not)? 50%
Total 100%

References and Resources

The students should be using their economics textbook and any notes from your lecture.