- Get your Jones v. Harris fix from (including reactions to oral argument) the Glom and Professor Bainbridge (my earlier thoughts on some economic aspects of the decision here and here)
- Kenneth Anderson has been a great addition to the Volokh Conspiracy
- Are Microsoft, Yahoo and Google really dropping support for Net Neutrality?
- Krugman attacks Mankiw for claim he never made; Mankiw responds; Krugman does not embarrass easily
- Pioneers of Law and Economics is available
- Sports Law Blog supplies the reading material for the January 13, 2010 American Needle v. NFL oral arguments
Some Links
The net neutrality article is interesting. One would think that these companies, Microsoft, especially, would keenly appreciate the danger of government power and regulatory oversight, especially in a world with shifting political power. It relates exactly to our Limits of Antitrust article (oh, yeah, and to Frank’s): If we let the government mandate net neutrality, when (not if) we end up with rules we don’t like, they will be nearly impossible to change, perhaps impossible to avoid, and perhaps strong deterrents to exactly the innovation that would make the rules obsolete. If the market gets it wrong, there is a chance for competition to correct the problem, an ability for regulators to regulate once they have more information, and no innovation or competition is precluded. Against this the companies have to weigh their short-term advantage in rent-seeking. Often the rent-seeking seems to prevail, although I presume it often backfires. I’d be surprised (and delighted) if these companies were feeling reluctant to enter the regulatory fray in this area.