Showing results for: “digital markets act”
A response to LawProf and MacEwen
I wasn’t going to comment on LawProf’s attacks on his profession. But now that it has been endorsed by Bruce MacEwen, aka Adam Smith, Esq., an otherwise insightful commentator on the legal profession, I feel compelled to say something. In a nutshell, MacEwen endorses what he says are LawProf’s three primary points: that the rising ... A response to LawProf and MacEwen
For Better Health Care Systems, States Should Take a Dose of Competition and Reject Antitrust Exemptions
Government impediments to the efficient provision of health care services in the United States are legion. While much recent attention has focused on the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which by design reduces consumer choice and competition, harmful state law restrictions have long been spotlighted by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and ... For Better Health Care Systems, States Should Take a Dose of Competition and Reject Antitrust Exemptions
How FTC v. Qualcomm Led to the Nvidia-Arm Acquisition
In a constructive development, the Federal Trade Commission has joined its British counterpart in investigating Nvidia’s proposed $40 billion acquisition of chip designer Arm, a subsidiary of Softbank. Arm provides the technological blueprints for wireless communications devices and, subject to a royalty fee, makes those crown-jewel assets available to all interested firms. Notwithstanding Nvidia’s stated ... How FTC v. Qualcomm Led to the Nvidia-Arm Acquisition
Will the European Commission’s Google Android Decision Benefit Consumers?
By Pinar Akman, Professor of Law, University of Leeds* The European Commission’s decision in Google Android cuts a fine line between punishing a company for its success and punishing a company for falling afoul of the rules of the game. Which side of the line it actually falls on cannot be fully understood until the ... Will the European Commission’s Google Android Decision Benefit Consumers?
“Politicization of Antitrust:” An Opportunity
[TOTM: The following is the first in a series of posts by TOTM guests and authors on the politicization of antitrust. The entire series of posts is available here.] This post is authored by Steven J. Cernak, Partner at Bona Law and Adjunct Professor, University of Michigan Law School and Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley ... “Politicization of Antitrust:” An Opportunity
A couple of quick thoughts on the DOJ’s filing to block AT&T/T-Mobile
As Josh noted, the DOJ filed a complaint today to block the merger. I’m sure we’ll have much, much more to say on the topic, but here are a few things that jump out at me from perusing the complaint: The DOJ distinguishes between the business (“Enterprise”) market and the consumer market. This is actually ... A couple of quick thoughts on the DOJ’s filing to block AT&T/T-Mobile
Amazon/Whole Foods: What Me Worry?
Brandeis is back, with today’s neo-Brandeisians reflexively opposing virtually all mergers involving large firms. For them, industry concentration has grown to crisis proportions and breaking up big companies should be the animating goal not just of antitrust policy but of U.S. economic policy generally. The key to understanding the neo-Brandeisian opposition to the Whole Foods/Amazon mergers is that it has nothing to do with consumer welfare, and everything to do with a large firm animus. Sabeel Rahman, a Roosevelt Institute scholar, concedes that big firms give us higher productivity, and hence lower prices, but he dismisses the value of that. He writes, “If consumer prices are our only concern, it is hard to see how Amazon, Comcast, and companies such as Uber need regulation.” And this gets to the key point regarding most of the opposition to the merger: it had nothing to do with concerns about monopolistic effects on economic efficiency or consumer prices. It had everything to do with opposition to big firm for the sole reason that they are big.
Imposed Final Offer Arbitration: Price Regulation by Any Other Name
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” says Al Pacino’s character, Michael Corleone, in Godfather III. That’s how Facebook and Google must feel about S. 673, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA). Gus Hurwitz called the bill dead in September. Then it passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now, there ... Imposed Final Offer Arbitration: Price Regulation by Any Other Name
The FTC’s Errors in 1-800 Contacts
In an amicus brief filed last Friday, a diverse group of antitrust scholars joined the Washington Legal Foundation in urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to vacate the Federal Trade Commission’s misguided 1-800 Contacts decision. Reasoning that 1-800’s settlements of trademark disputes were “inherently suspect,” the FTC condemned the settlements under ... The FTC’s Errors in 1-800 Contacts
Concentration Study Further Undermines Narrative that US Competition Has Sharply Declined
A new scholarly study of economic concentration sheds further light on the flawed nature of the Neo-Brandeisian claim that the United States has a serious “competition problem” due to decades of increasing concentration and ineffective antitrust enforcement (see here and here, for example). In a recent article, economist Yueran Ma—assistant professor at the University of ... Concentration Study Further Undermines Narrative that US Competition Has Sharply Declined
Popular Criticism of the Proxy Access Case
Bob Monks has a lot to say about Business Roundtable v. SEC. Some notable quotes: “The DC Circuit now has really made a reputation over four or five years of throwing out SEC regulations. Their reason for doing it is that the SEC has failed to generate cost-benefit information that conforms with their interpretation of ... Popular Criticism of the Proxy Access Case
Hunting for Labor-Market Monopsonies (and Giffen Goods)
If you wander into an undergraduate economics class on the right day at the right time, you might catch the lecturer talking about Giffen goods: the rare case where demand curves can slope upward. The Irish potato famine is often used as an example. As the story goes, potatoes were a huge part of the ... Hunting for Labor-Market Monopsonies (and Giffen Goods)
