Showing results for: “digital markets act”
We Are Not Just Going to Stand Here, We Are Going to Do Something!
That seems to be the message of presidential candidate/ Senator Barak Obama’s response to the American Antitrust Institute’s questions on antitrust (HT: Antitrust Review). First off, kudos to Obama for stating his position on antitrust in a public forum. I hope the rest of the candidates will do the same. Do go read the whole ... We Are Not Just Going to Stand Here, We Are Going to Do Something!
Universities redux: The anti-market folks begin to crow
Last week I made a few observations and asked a few questions about higher education in the wake of the Summers fiasco (which I dubbed l’Affair Étés, but apparently no one thought that was nearly as clever as I did). Over at Prawfsblawg, guest blogger Jonathan Zittrain takes NYT columnist John Tierney (for my money, ... Universities redux: The anti-market folks begin to crow
Comments on Jonathan Baker's Preserving a Political Bargain
I’ve recently finished reading Jonathan Baker’s Preserving a Political Bargain: The Political Economy of the Non-Interventionist Challenge to Monopolization Enforcement, forthcoming in the Antitrust Law Journal. Baker’s central thesis in Preserving a Political Bargain builds on earlier work concerning competition policy as an implicit political bargain that was reached during the 1940s between the more ... Comments on Jonathan Baker's Preserving a Political Bargain
Who Are You Calling A Price Theorist Anyway?: Commissioner Rosch Takes on the HMGs Economist “Architects”
Commissioner Rosch has offered an interesting separate statement on the new HMGs. While favoring the new guidelines generally, Commissioner Rosch offers several criticisms. I concur with a few of these criticisms, for example, Commissioner Rosch also argues for a more empirical approach to merger analysis. I agree with that general proposition despite, as we shall ... Who Are You Calling A Price Theorist Anyway?: Commissioner Rosch Takes on the HMGs Economist “Architects”
Making Sense of the Google Android Decision (part 4): The Commission’s Economic Analysis
This is the fourth, and last, in a series of TOTM blog posts discussing the Commission’s recently published Google Android decision (the first post can be found here, and the second here, and the third here). It draws on research from a soon-to-be published ICLE white paper. The previous parts of this series have mostly ... Making Sense of the Google Android Decision (part 4): The Commission’s Economic Analysis
Search Bias and Antitrust
There is an antitrust debate brewing concerning Google and “search bias,” a term used to describe search engine results that preference the content of the search provider. For example, Google might list Google Maps prominently if one searches “maps” or Microsoft’s Bing might prominently place Microsoft affiliated content or products. Apparently both antitrust investigations and ... Search Bias and Antitrust
What happened in Australia?
What happens when you take a key price in an industry and cut it in half? For normal markets economists would expect that this would have a dramatic effect on quantity. That, however, was not the experience in Australia when the Reserve Bank of Australian (RBA) used new powers in 2003 to move Visa and ... What happened in Australia?
Section 2 Symposium: Tim Brennan on the Relationship Between Regulation and Antitrust
When I first started working in antitrust at the Justice Department over thirty years ago—there’s a hard reality to accept—the Antitrust Division was then embroiled in an effort to reform the regulation of oil pipelines. The argument on this now obscure issue was that effective prevention of the exercise of market power by natural monopoly ... Section 2 Symposium: Tim Brennan on the Relationship Between Regulation and Antitrust
Occupational Licensing, Competition, and the Constitution: Prospects for Reform?
U.S. antitrust law focuses primarily on private anticompetitive restraints, leaving the most serious impediments to a vibrant competitive process – government-initiated restraints – relatively free to flourish. Thus the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should be commended for its July 16 congressional testimony that spotlights a fast-growing and particularly pernicious species of (largely state) government restriction ... Occupational Licensing, Competition, and the Constitution: Prospects for Reform?
What One Article Should Obama Read Tonight?
Imagine what must be going through President-elect Barack Obama’s head today. Tomorrow he begins what must be the most stressful job on the planet (just look at before-and-after pictures of Presidents Clinton and Bush, both of whom appeared to age decades in only eight years). He’s just come off a love-fest featuring the likes of ... What One Article Should Obama Read Tonight?
A Reply to the Rubins on Crony Capitalism
Paul H. Rubin and Joseph S. Rubin advance the provocative position that some crony capitalism may be welfare enhancing. With all due respect, I am not convinced by their defense of government-business cronyism. “Second best correction” arguments can be made with respect to ANY inefficient government rule. In reality, it is almost impossible to calibrate the ... A Reply to the Rubins on Crony Capitalism
Another Way DOJ Might Pursue "Vigorous Antitrust Enforcement in This Challenging Era"
DOJ’s top antitrust enforcer Christine Varney had hardly gotten settled in her office before she repudiated the existing DOJ guidelines on policing single-firm conduct. In the spirit of Rahm Emanuel’s famous “never let a serious crisis go to waste” directive, Ms. Varney invoked the current economic crisis as grounds for her decision to throw out ... Another Way DOJ Might Pursue "Vigorous Antitrust Enforcement in This Challenging Era"
