Showing results for: “digital markets act”
A Set-top Box Set-Back and an Opportunity for Good Government
There must have been a great gnashing of teeth in Chairman Wheeler’s office this morning as the FCC announced that it was pulling the Chairman’s latest modifications to the set-top box proposal from its voting agenda. This is surely but a bump in the road for the Chairman; he will undoubtedly press ever onward in ... A Set-top Box Set-Back and an Opportunity for Good Government
FCC Preemption of State Municipal Broadband Restrictions is Legally Problematic and Bad for Taxpayers and Competition
By a 3-2 vote, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided on February 26 to preempt state laws in North Carolina and Tennessee that bar municipally-owned broadband providers from providing services beyond their geographic boundaries. This decision raises substantial legal issues and threatens economic harm to state taxpayers and consumers. The narrow FCC majority rested its ... FCC Preemption of State Municipal Broadband Restrictions is Legally Problematic and Bad for Taxpayers and Competition
Externalities and Future Selves
Paternalism is a turn-off. We humans seem to have an innate desire for autonomy, a desire that generally leads us to resist efforts by elites to force us to make “wise” decisions. It’s rhetorically useful, then, for opponents of a proposed regulation to demonstrate that the rule at issue aims merely to save folks from ... Externalities and Future Selves
Net Neutrality Paranoia
The paranoid style is endemic across the political spectrum, for sure, but lately, in the policy realm haunted by the shambling zombie known as “net neutrality,” the pro-Title II set are taking the rhetoric up a notch. This time the problem is, apparently, that the FCC is not repealing Title II classification fast enough, which ... Net Neutrality Paranoia
Watching local and a la carte is a recipe for STAVRAtion
The free market position on telecom reform has become rather confused of late. Erstwhile conservative Senator Thune is now cosponsoring a version of Senator Rockefeller’s previously proposed video reform bill, bundled into satellite legislation (the Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act or “STAVRA”) that would also include a provision dubbed “Local Choice.” Some free marketeers have defended ... Watching local and a la carte is a recipe for STAVRAtion
What's wrong with what Eduardo Penalver thinks is wrong with property rights initiatives
Over at Co-op, guest blogger Eduardo Penalver posts this screed against property rights initiatives like Oregon’s Measure 37 (about which I blogged here) and Washington’s proposed Initiative I-933. To my mind he gets it pretty much completely wrong, so I thought I should weigh in. First, he claims that “by most accounts” Oregon’s Measure 37 ... What's wrong with what Eduardo Penalver thinks is wrong with property rights initiatives
Antitrust Exam Question: Do the Major Institutional Investors Have an Antitrust Problem?
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that major institutional investors — CalPERS, CalSTRS, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, etc. — have collectively adopted a set of recommended practices that is “rankling” private equity firms. Had I not discussed the article in my Antitrust class, I’d use it as the basis for an exam question. ... Antitrust Exam Question: Do the Major Institutional Investors Have an Antitrust Problem?
Terry Calvani and Angela Diveley on Injury to Competition and Efficiencies in Section 5 Claims
We welcome Commissioner Wright’s contribution in making the important point that the Commission’s unfair methods of competition (UMC) jurisdiction under Section 5 of the FTCA should be subject to limiting principles. We make two observations about the policy statement and a more general observation about the FTC in light of its upcoming 100th anniversary. The ... Terry Calvani and Angela Diveley on Injury to Competition and Efficiencies in Section 5 Claims
Manne on Shareholder Democracy
Henry Manne is back with another article in the WSJ. This time Manne goes toe-to-toe with the “corporate democrats.” Profs Ribstein (“Shareholder democracy is just one of the burdens that public corporations have to bear these days”) and Bainbridge (“it’s a brilliant spanking of the shareholder activists, which I highly commend to your attention”) have ... Manne on Shareholder Democracy
Interesting Section 2 Developments
A pair of interesting antitrust appellate decisions have been released over the past few days involving single firm conduct and Section 2: Cascade Health Solutions v. PeaceHealth (9th Cir.) and Broadcom v. Qualcomm (3rd Cir.). First, the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Cascade Health Solutions v. PeaceHealth reversed the district court’s Lepage’s based jury instruction in ... Interesting Section 2 Developments
Cooperation, Competition, and COVID-19
Cooperation is the basis of productivity. The war of all against all is not a good model for any economy. Who said it—a rose-emoji Twitter Marxist, or a card-carrying member of the laissez faire Chicago School of economics? If you guessed the latter, you’d be right. Frank Easterbrook penned these words in an antitrust ... Cooperation, Competition, and COVID-19
Brantley and its Implications for the Proposed Consumer Choice Antitrust Standard
Thom‘s excellent post highlights the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Brantley and describes its implications both in terms of rejecting Professor Elhauge’s claim that metering ties and mere surplus extraction amount to competitive harm for the purposes of antitrust and also for the future of the quasi-per se rule of tying. Thom, in my view ... Brantley and its Implications for the Proposed Consumer Choice Antitrust Standard
