Conduct that unreasonably excludes competitors from the marketplace is a concern of antitrust law. Predatory pricing doctrine focuses on conduct that lowers revenues. Alternatively, a firm can induce its rivals to exit the industry by raising their costs. Some non-price predatory conduct can best be understood as action that increases competitors• costs. To a predator, raising rivals• costs has obvious advantages over predatory pricing. It is better to compete against high cost firms than low cost ones. Thus, raising rivals• costs can be profitable even if the rival does not exit from the market. Nor is it necessary to sacrifice profits in the short-run for
"speculative and indeterminate" profits in the long -run. A higher-cost rival quickly reduces output, allowing the predator to immediately raise price or market share.