Scholarly commentary on law, economics, & more

As I noted in my last post, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Sept. 20 that it had filed a complaint:  against the three largest prescription drug benefit managers (PBMs)—Caremark Rx, Express Scripts (ESI), and OptumRx—and their affiliated group purchasing organizations (GPOs) for engaging in anticompetitive and unfair rebating practices that have artificially inflated the … Antitrust at the Agencies: PBM Madness at the FTC, Part 2

Inspired by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a growing number of jurisdictions around the globe either have adopted or are considering adopting frameworks of preemptive digital-competition rules (DCRs) that would more closely regulate the business models of such platforms as Google’s search engine and Amazon’s e-commerce business. The Turkish government may soon join … Preemptive Digital-Platform Rules Are Not Good Competition Policy, But They Were Never Meant to Be

The 2024 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (or simply THE Nobel Prize, as I call it) was awarded this morning to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.” I called last year’s prize to Claudia Goldin “a surprise to no one.” This year’s prize is … And the 2024 Economics Nobel Goes to…