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Showing results for:  “digital markets act”

Causing harm in the name of safety: Political opposition to non-combustible tobacco products

In January a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel, the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC), voted 8-1 that the weight of scientific evidence shows that switching from cigarettes to an innovative, non-combustible tobacco product such as Philip Morris International’s (PMI’s) IQOS system significantly reduces a user’s exposure to harmful or potentially harmful chemicals. This ... Causing harm in the name of safety: Political opposition to non-combustible tobacco products

Dodd-Frank and Criminal Consumer Protection Liability

Tiffany Joslyn provides a useful summary of the criminal provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act at the Federalist Society National Federal Initiatives Project.  One of the things Joslyn points out is that the Act includes new criminal consumer protection liability: Section 1036 makes it a criminal offense for any covered person or service provider to offer ... Dodd-Frank and Criminal Consumer Protection Liability

Clawbacks

Dennis Berman, writing in yesterday’s WSJ, discussed the SEC’s case against Maynard Jenkins, former ceo of CSK, to return $4.1 million in stock option grants because accounting fraud, in which Jenkins was not involved, allegedly inflated the returns the grants were based on. This is the SEC’s first attempt to enforce SOX Section 304 against ... Clawbacks

Brad DeLong on Todd Henderson

More than two weeks ago, my co-blogger was subject to one of the most remarkable attacks I’ve seen in the blogosphere.  I have declined so far to participate in the mostly hot-headed debate.  But I write now because last Friday, J. Bradford DeLong, whose personal attack on Todd a couple of weeks ago was one ... Brad DeLong on Todd Henderson

USDA Pushes Regulatory Elimination of Consumer Harm Requirement

Danny Sokol points to the Obama administration’s most recent effort to “reinvigorate” competition policy: some new proposed rules adding new sections to the existing regulations under the Packers & Stockyards Act. Emerging from the joint DOJ/ USDA agriculture workshops (see comments from Manne & Wright here; TOTM archives on agricultural antitrust here), the USDA must ... USDA Pushes Regulatory Elimination of Consumer Harm Requirement

Competition Policy for a New Administration

As Truth on the Market readers prepare to enjoy their Thanksgiving dinners, let me offer some (hopefully palatable) “food for thought” on a competition policy for the new Trump Administration.  In referring to competition policy, I refer not just to lawsuits directed against private anticompetitive conduct, but more broadly to efforts aimed at curbing government ... Competition Policy for a New Administration

Say on Pay

A late Monday press release from the Securities and Exchange Commission announces a rule proposal to implement the say on pay requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act.  I testified before both houses of Congress against the legislative authorizing language in Dodd-Frank that the SEC uses to promulgate the rule.  My testimony before the House Financial Services ... Say on Pay

More on EchoStar’s questionable litigation tactics

The day before yesterday I posted on the fascinating and important TiVo v. EchoStar case.  Today I wanted to follow up with some, let’s say, color commentary on EchoStar’s litigation tactics.  This isn’t dispositive, of course, but it does seem to add some insight into the notion that EchoStar is taking advantage of questionable litigation ... More on EchoStar’s questionable litigation tactics

Claire Hill on The Promise of Behavioral Law and Economics

I want to challenge what seems to be a premise of this symposium: that much of the behavioral “contribution” to economics is about people’s “mistakes” (either cognitive mistakes or “weakness of the will”) and the consequent need for paternalistic intervention.   I think the behavioral perspective has much more to offer; I also think that the ... Claire Hill on The Promise of Behavioral Law and Economics

Level Heads Continue to Prevail: MPAA to be a “Trusted Notifier” With Radix

As we noted in our issue brief on the impending ICANN transition, given the vast scope of the problem, voluntary relationships between registries, registrars and private industry will be a critical aspect of controlling online piracy. Last week the MPAA and registry operator Radix announced a new “trusted notifier” program under which the MPAA will ... Level Heads Continue to Prevail: MPAA to be a “Trusted Notifier” With Radix

Cheap Donuts, Expensive Broccoli and Soda Taxes

David Leonhardt’s NY Times column laments the fact that the price of healthful foods has increased relative to unhealthful foods.   He presents this useful chart: The fact that relative prices have changed is often invoked in support of various “fat taxes,” e.g. consider the recent salvo of proposed soda taxes (For example, here and here).   ... Cheap Donuts, Expensive Broccoli and Soda Taxes

Stare Decisis, Economic Efficiency, and Spider-Man

Today, in Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, a case involving the technology underlying the Spider-Man Web-Blaster, the Supreme Court invoked stare decisis to uphold an old precedent based on bad economics. In so doing, the Court spun a tangled web of formalism that trapped economic common sense within it, forgetting that, as Spider-Man was warned in ... Stare Decisis, Economic Efficiency, and Spider-Man