Showing results for: “digital markets act”
Leave a Little GUPPI Alone: Why Commissioner Wright is Right to Call for a Low-GUPPI Safe Harbor
FTC Commissioner Josh Wright has some wise thoughts on how to handle a small GUPPI. I don’t mean the fish. Dissenting in part in the Commission’s disposition of the Family Dollar/Dollar Tree merger, Commissioner Wright calls for creating a safe harbor for mergers where the competitive concern is unilateral effects and the merger generates a ... Leave a Little GUPPI Alone: Why Commissioner Wright is Right to Call for a Low-GUPPI Safe Harbor
NY ‘Abuse of Dominance’ Bill Attacks Consumer Welfare and the US Antitrust Tradition
U.S. antitrust law is designed to protect competition, not individual competitors. That simple observation lies at the heart of the Consumer Welfare Standard that for years has been the cornerstone of American antitrust policy. An alternative enforcement policy focused on protecting individual firms would discourage highly efficient and innovative conduct by a successful entity, because ... NY ‘Abuse of Dominance’ Bill Attacks Consumer Welfare and the US Antitrust Tradition
Live Nation Breakup: Are Mergers Really to Blame for Ticketmaster’s Problems?
The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) announced yesterday that it has filed suit, along with 29 states and the District of Columbia, charging Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and its subsidiary Ticketmaster LLC with monopolizing the live-events industry in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the ... Live Nation Breakup: Are Mergers Really to Blame for Ticketmaster’s Problems?
My Reflections on The Senate CFPB Hearing
[Cross-posted at PYMNTS.COM] Richard Cordray’s nomination hearing provided an opportunity to learn something new about the substantive policies of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Unfortunately, that opportunity came and went without answering many of the key questions that remain concerning the impact of the CFPB’s enforcement and regulatory agenda on the availability of consumer ... My Reflections on The Senate CFPB Hearing
Economics is Dead. Long Live Economics! A Review of The Economists’ Hour
John Maynard Keynes wrote in his famous General Theory that “[t]he ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, ... Economics is Dead. Long Live Economics! A Review of The Economists’ Hour
Amazon-Whole Foods: The Speculation Then, the Evidence Today
Carl Shapiro, the government’s economics expert opposing the AT&T-Time Warner merger, seems skeptical of much of the antitrust populists’ Amazon rhetoric: "Simply saying that Amazon has grown like a weed, charges very low prices, and has driven many smaller retailers out of business is not sufficient. Where is the consumer harm?" On its face, there was nothing about the Amazon/Whole Foods merger that should have raised any antitrust concerns. While one year is too soon to fully judge the competitive impacts of the Amazon-Whole Foods merger, nevertheless, it appears that much of the populist antitrust movement’s speculation that the merger would destroy competition and competitors and impoverish workers has failed to materialize.
A Comprehensive Overview (and Sound Analysis) of the Law and Economics of FRAND Litigation, Here and Abroad
Too much ink has been spilled in an attempt to gin up antitrust controversies regarding efforts by holders of “standard essential patents” (SEPs, patents covering technologies that are adopted as part of technical standards relied upon by manufacturers) to obtain reasonable returns to their property. Antitrust theories typically revolve around claims that SEP owners engage ... A Comprehensive Overview (and Sound Analysis) of the Law and Economics of FRAND Litigation, Here and Abroad
Is Amazon Guilty of Predatory Pricing?
In 2014, Benedict Evans, a venture capitalist at Andreessen Horowitz, wrote “Why Amazon Has No Profits (And Why It Works),” a blog post in which he tried to explain Amazon’s business model. He began with a chart of Amazon’s revenue and net income that has now become (in)famous: Source: Benedict Evans A question inevitably followed ... Is Amazon Guilty of Predatory Pricing?
Carl Shapiro on BCBS and the New Merger Guidelines
?Carl Shapiro’s (DOJ) speech at the ABA Fall Forum contains (at least) two interesting tidbits worth highlighting for TOTM readers. The first is a discussion of the DOJ’s case against Blue Cross Blue Shield, which as discussed here, turns on an economic analysis of the use of most-favored nations clauses in contractual arrangements with hospitals: ... Carl Shapiro on BCBS and the New Merger Guidelines
Free to Choose (and Market) Clone-Free
The FDA has determined that milk and meat from some cloned animals (cattle, swine, and goats) is safe to eat. It has therefore lifted a moratorium on such products. But don’t expect to see milk and meat from cloned animals in your local grocery store. Cloning is incredibly expensive, so cloned animals would almost certainly ... Free to Choose (and Market) Clone-Free
Sacrificing Consumer Welfare in the Search Bias Debate, Part II
I did not intend for this to become a series (Part I), but I underestimated the supply of analysis simultaneously invoking “search bias” as an antitrust concept while waving it about untethered from antitrust’s institutional commitment to protecting consumer welfare. Harvard Business School Professor Ben Edelman offers the latest iteration in this genre. We’ve criticized ... Sacrificing Consumer Welfare in the Search Bias Debate, Part II
The Paradoxical Perils of Mandatory ‘Competition’ in Merchant Routing of Credit-Card Transactions
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) earlier this month introduced legislation that aims to manufacture competition in the routing of credit-card transactions. If enacted, the measure would require that merchants be able to choose from at least two networks when processing most credit-card transactions. While this would result in competition over routing, it would harm other forms ... The Paradoxical Perils of Mandatory ‘Competition’ in Merchant Routing of Credit-Card Transactions
