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Showing results for:  “digital markets act”

Amazon is Not Welcome in France. And That Reflects French Double Standards

As the COVID-19 outbreak led to the shutdown of many stores, e-commerce and brick-and-mortar shops have been stepping up efforts to facilitate online deliveries while ensuring their workers’ safety. Without online retail, lockdown conditions would have been less tolerable, and confinement measures less sustainable. Yet a recent French court’s ruling on Amazon seems to be ... Amazon is Not Welcome in France. And That Reflects French Double Standards

After the FTX Crash, What’s Next for Crypto?

For many observers, the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX understandably raises questions about the future of the crypto economy, or even of public blockchains as a technology. The topic is high on the agenda of the U.S. Congress this week, with the House Financial Services Committee set for a Dec. 13 hearing with FTX ... After the FTX Crash, What’s Next for Crypto?

Is the FTC Threatening Efficient Franchise Relationships?

Franchising plays a key role in promoting American job creation and economic growth. As explained in Forbes (hyperlinks omitted): Franchising as a business institution is oriented toward reducing economic inefficiencies in commercial relationships. Specifically, economic analysis reveals that it is a potential means for dealing with opportunism and cabining transaction costs in vertical-distribution contracts. In ... Is the FTC Threatening Efficient Franchise Relationships?

Economics versus politics in antitrust [#agworkshop]

Bill Northey, IA Ag Sec’y, sounds a bit like an economist (ah, turns out he has a degree in ag business and an MBA . . . ).  Yes, price of seeds has gone up, but so has yield, and so has overall value.  The issue, he says, is how to divide the surplus, and ... Economics versus politics in antitrust [#agworkshop]

Professor Wright’s Latest Sage Advice: Stay Away from Unfocused “Big is Bad” Rhetoric in Assessing the Proposed AT&T-Time Warner Merger

Last October 26, Heritage scholar James Gattuso and I published an essay in The Daily Signal, explaining that the proposed vertical merger (a merger between firms at different stages of the distribution chain) of AT&T and Time Warner (currently undergoing Justice Department antitrust review) may have the potential to bestow substantial benefits on consumers – ... Professor Wright’s Latest Sage Advice: Stay Away from Unfocused “Big is Bad” Rhetoric in Assessing the Proposed AT&T-Time Warner Merger

Health Care and Health Insurance Merger Retrospective: A Personal Law & Economics Experience

My colleagues at the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) often engage not only in excellent analysis of proposed mergers and acquisitions, but also have been known to offer retrospectives on past mergers. Today, I want to offer a very personal version of this.  A little background: on June 3, 2022, I was diagnosed ... Health Care and Health Insurance Merger Retrospective: A Personal Law & Economics Experience

What Lina Khan’s appointment means for the House antitrust bills

Her appointment also comes as House Democrats are preparing to mark up five bills designed to regulate Big Tech and, in the process, vastly expand the FTC’s powers. This expansion may combine with Khan’s appointment in ways that lawmakers considering the bills have not yet considered. This is a critical time for the FTC. It ... What Lina Khan’s appointment means for the House antitrust bills

Tom Brown on Camel Spotting — Is Behavioral Economics Really Beyond Redemption?

At the outset let me thank our hosts for inviting me to participate in what I have come to think of as Truth On The Markets’ annual symposium on topics of particular interest to me. Last year at roughly this same time, TOTM sponsored a symposium on what many surely regarded as an obscure topic, ... Tom Brown on Camel Spotting — Is Behavioral Economics Really Beyond Redemption?

DOJ v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

This should be an interesting case to watch.  As I’ve discussed, if one excludes policy speeches and restricts focus to enforcement action and activity, it has been thus far difficult to distinguish the Obama Antitrust Division from the Bush II Antitrust Division when it comes to single firm or allegedly exclusionary conduct.  But the DOJ’s ... DOJ v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

More on the First Amendment and proxy access

The ramifications of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United promise to play out for quite awhile, particularly including its effect on corporate governance. For example, will corporate decision-making that produces corporate speech be exempt from the First Amendment?  And how does the First Amendment apply to securities law limitations on what corporations can say ... More on the First Amendment and proxy access

Section 2 Symposium: Herbert Hovenkamp on Patents and Exclusionary Practices

One interesting aspect of the DOJ Report on Section 2 is the scant, episodic treatment of IP issues. The Report rejects the presumption of market power for patent ties (p. 81); has a very brief discussion of refusal to license patented parts in which it properly rejects the reasoning of the Ninth Circuit’s Kodak decision ... Section 2 Symposium: Herbert Hovenkamp on Patents and Exclusionary Practices

What You Need to Know About the EU’s New AI Regulation

The European Commission this week published its proposed Artificial Intelligence Regulation, setting out new rules for  “artificial intelligence systems” used within the European Union. The regulation—the commission’s attempt to limit pernicious uses of AI without discouraging its adoption in beneficial cases—casts a wide net in defining AI to include essentially any software developed using machine ... What You Need to Know About the EU’s New AI Regulation