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Showing results for:  “price gouging”

Cert Granted in Linkline

The Supreme Court has granted cert in Pacific Bell Telephone Co., dba AT&T California v. linkLine Communications in order to address the question of whether a Section 2 “price squeeze” claim is viable under the Sherman Act if the defendant has no duty to deal.  (HT: Scotusblog, which also has all of the relevant links). ... Cert Granted in Linkline

RPM and the NIE

I’ve just spent a couple of great days in spectacular Boulder, Colorado at a conference on the New Institutional Economics (NIE). (Not sure why the “the” is required, but it always seems to be used.) The conference, organized by Colorado Law’s Phil Weiser and hosted by the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship, ... RPM and the NIE

Are Loyalty Discounts Really Anticompetitive?

I promised that I would write about why I think that Professor Elhauge’s claim in his new working paper, “Loyalty Discounts and Naked Exclusion,” that he has proven that loyalty discounts generally involve anticompetitive effects is mistaken. Let me begin by saying that this is a very provocative claim from a very serious antitrust analyst ... Are Loyalty Discounts Really Anticompetitive?

Mankiw Makes the Case for McCain's Corporate Tax Cut

The article is in the NY Times (HT: Mankiw).  An excerpt: A cut in the corporate tax as Mr. McCain proposes would initially give a boost to after-tax profits and stock prices, but the results would not end there. A stronger stock market would lead to more capital investment. More investment would lead to greater ... Mankiw Makes the Case for McCain's Corporate Tax Cut

Clear Channel Litigation Is Going To Trial! Or not….

I have just been told by someone who attended the 10:45 a.m. hearing this morning in Justice Helen Freedman’s courtroom in New York state court that the Clear Channel litigation brought by private equity buyers against their lenders – the litigation that the media kept saying over the past two days was *about* to settle – ... Clear Channel Litigation Is Going To Trial! Or not….

FTC to Dr. Miles: "I Wish I Knew How to Quit You!"

In April 2000, the FTC issued a Complaint against women’s shoe distributor Nine West, claiming that Nine West had engaged in minimum resale price maintenance (RPM) (i.e., the setting of minimum prices that retailers could charge for its shoes). Apparently, Nine West was providing retailers with lists of “off limits” or “non-promote” shoes that weren’t ... FTC to Dr. Miles: "I Wish I Knew How to Quit You!"

The Future of Law and Economics Part 4: Potential Solutions

In a series of posts (Part I, Part II and Part III), I’ve sketched out how the trend toward increasing detachment in L&E scholarship might reduce the influence of the L&E movement at the retail level and become its ultimate undoing. I must say, writing this series has been a lot of fun but has ... The Future of Law and Economics Part 4: Potential Solutions

Microsoft Withdraws Its Bid For Yahoo!

This just in: Microsoft withdrew its most recent bid for Yahoo and announced it will not be making a hostile move for Yahoo. This comes on the heels of the announcement a mere day ago that Yahoo and Microsoft were sitting down to try to hammer out a friendly deal.  Fickle, that Microsoft is! Allow ... Microsoft Withdraws Its Bid For Yahoo!

Score One for Obama

I’ve been waiting for my old con law prof to take a political stand I could really get behind, and he finally has. Barack Obama is the only one of the presidential candidates to take a firm stand against this shamefully populist gas tax holiday. Good for you, Prof! Now, I’m not normally a big ... Score One for Obama

Big Antitrust News: Rambus Overturned

The D.C. Circuit’s opinion is available here.  Here is one of the key passages explaining the D.C. Circuit’s logic: To the extent that the ruling (which simply reversed a grant of dismissal) rested on the argument that deceit lured the SSO away from non-proprietary technology, see id., it cannot help the Commission in view of ... Big Antitrust News: Rambus Overturned

The "New" Issue of JLE is Online

The new issue of the Journal of Law & Economics is available online. This is an exciting development for me because the issue includes my paper with Ben Klein on The Economics of Slotting Contracts (SSRN version available here), and because it has been a very long wait to see the paper in final form ... The "New" Issue of JLE is Online

The Economics of Post-Merger Product Repositioning

Amit Gandhi, Luke Froeb, Steven Tschantz and Gregory Werden have published “Post-Merger Product Repositioning” in the Journal of Industrial Economics.  (HT: Luke).  The critical insight is that the conventional unilateral effect incentive to raise prices post-merger is offset by the incentive to “separate” in product space.  Here is the abstract: This paper analyzes the effects ... The Economics of Post-Merger Product Repositioning