Overview
Joel Chefitz, commenting on the Justice Department investigation of possible airline industry fare collusion, said that the industry “is behaving like a pro-competitive but consolidated market—a legal oligopoly. That might bother some people but I don’t think it violates the law … and I don’t think it is a bad thing for the economy either.” Mr. Chefitz added that “rational decision-making on the part of competitors in a concentrated industry is not viewed as a price-fixing conspiracy or an output reduction conspiracy. It is viewed as lawful independent behavior by oligopolists.”