Showing results for: “digital markets act”
Cernak: Who Bears the Burden on Elimination of Double Marginalization in the Draft Vertical Merger Guidelines?
[TOTM: The following is part of a symposium by TOTM guests and authors on the 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines. The entire series of posts is available here. This post is authored by Steven J. Cernak (Partner, Bona Law; Adjunct Professor, University of Michigan Law School and Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School; former ... Cernak: Who Bears the Burden on Elimination of Double Marginalization in the Draft Vertical Merger Guidelines?
Welcome to the TOTM Blog Symposium on the 2020 Draft Joint Vertical Merger Guidelines
The 2020 Draft Joint Vertical Merger Guidelines: What’s in, what’s out — and do we need them anyway? February 6 & 7, 2020 Welcome! We’re delighted to kick off our two-day blog symposium on the recently released Draft Joint Vertical Merger Guidelines from the DOJ Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission. If adopted by ... Welcome to the TOTM Blog Symposium on the 2020 Draft Joint Vertical Merger Guidelines
Announcing the TOTM Symposium on the 2020 Draft Joint Vertical Merger Guidelines
Truth on the Market is pleased to announce its next blog symposium: The 2020 Draft Joint Vertical Merger Guidelines: What’s in, what’s out — and do we need them anyway? February 6 & 7, 2020 Symposium background On January 10, 2020, the DOJ Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission released Draft Joint Vertical Merger ... Announcing the TOTM Symposium on the 2020 Draft Joint Vertical Merger Guidelines
The 2020 Draft Joint Vertical Merger Guidelines: What’s in, what’s out — and do we need them anyway?
On January 10, 2020, the DOJ and FTC released their draft 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines. “Challenging anticompetitive vertical mergers is essential to vigorous enforcement. The agencies’ vertical merger policy has evolved substantially since the issuance of the 1984 Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines, and our guidelines should reflect the current enforcement approach. Greater transparency about the complex ... The 2020 Draft Joint Vertical Merger Guidelines: What’s in, what’s out — and do we need them anyway?
The Upsides of Collusion and Concentration
Conspiracies and collusion often (always?) get a bad rap. Adam Smith famously derided “people of the same trade” for their inclination to conspire against the public or contrive to raise prices. Today, such conspiracies and contrivances are per se illegal and felonies punishable under the Sherman Act. It is well known and widely accepted that ... The Upsides of Collusion and Concentration
Kevin Murphy models the stimulus–and the results aren't pretty
A great video from the University of Chicago here with comments from John Huizinga, Kevin Murphy and Robert Lucas. John Huizinga also wonders if we’re calculating the costs. Robert Lucas is skeptical. But Kevin Murphy’s discussion is (not surprisingly) worth the price of admission (I only wish the video showed the slides). He puts some ... Kevin Murphy models the stimulus–and the results aren't pretty
The Know Betters’ Stimulus Plan
National Economic Council Chairman Larry Summers was on Meet the Press yesterday defending President Obama’s proposed fiscal stimulus plan, which is heavily weighted toward government spending and away from tax cuts (and, to the extent it reduces taxes, does so via tax credits without cutting marginal rates). He started by emphasizing the magnitude of the ... The Know Betters’ Stimulus Plan
More Evasion of Pricing Constraints as Antitrust Violations: Vertical Merger Edition
I’ve criticized elsewhere what appears to the the FTC’s new “evasion of pricing constraint” theory of monopolization emerging from Ovation (see also here), N-Data, and Rambus. I expressed some concern that this theory had no limiting principles and was detached in important ways from sound economics: Here are a few examples of conduct the FTC ... More Evasion of Pricing Constraints as Antitrust Violations: Vertical Merger Edition
Becker and Murphy on the Stimulus
I’ve got the over-under on Krugman name-calling directed at both set at noon EST tomorrow. Any takers? Anyway, here’s some key excerpts from the WSJ piece: In a full-employment situation, increased government spending would largely replace private spending, so the net stimulus to GDP would likely be quite small. In the present environment, however, with ... Becker and Murphy on the Stimulus
To Whom It May Concern: Please Stop Calling RPM Agreements Cartels (or Price-Fixing)
The headline of this Bloomberg story on the Swiss Competition Authority’s complaint against Bayer, Pfizer and Lilly announces that the firms operated an “Erection Drug Cartel.” I read a bit further to learn something about what I suspected, from the title of the story, would be a horizontal agreement between the firms — that is ... To Whom It May Concern: Please Stop Calling RPM Agreements Cartels (or Price-Fixing)
GDPR After One Year: Costs and Unintended Consequences
GDPR is officially one year old. How have the first 12 months gone? As you can see from the mix of data and anecdotes below, it appears that compliance costs have been astronomical; individual “data rights” have led to unintended consequences; “privacy protection” seems to have undermined market competition; and there have been large unseen ... GDPR After One Year: Costs and Unintended Consequences
IP Rights Are Important, Even in Pandemics
The ongoing pandemic has been an opportunity to explore different aspects of the human condition. For myself, I have learned that, despite a deep commitment to philosophical (neo- or classical-) liberalism, at heart I am pragmatic. I would prefer a society that optimizes for more individual liberty, but I am emphatically not someone who ... IP Rights Are Important, Even in Pandemics
