ABSTRACT
The different outcomes of competition law enforcement in the US and Germany raise interesting economic as well as legal questions. One might ask for example if there are any criteria provided by economic theory to give competition authorities guidance in identifying predatory pricing strategies? Against this setting, what may explain the diverging conclusions of the courts in the US and Germany? Were factual differences decisive or are there different standards of proof or 'models' of competition law enforcement? In order to answer these questions it is necessary to first define the prevailing conflicts in the theory of predatory pricing. Subsequently, P. Joskow and A. Klevcrick's two-tier approach will be used as a framework for a comparative assessment of the current legal practice in the US and Germany. The analysis is carried out on the basis of an identification of those specific structural characteristics of the airline industry, which have an influence on the probability of success of predatory pricing strategies.
