Showing results for: “varney”
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]
Some political theater [#agworkshop]
As readers may know, Eric Holder was added to the workshop at the last minute (see the latest agenda here). So the day starts out with Holder and Vilsack, and they are joined by Varney and Tom Miller (the Iowa AG) and a host of other politicos including Senator Grassley and Congressman Boswell. Vilsack is ... Some political theater [#agworkshop]
Wright’s Right on Posner
A couple of days ago, Josh wrote to correct the record on Judge Posner’s antitrust views. AAG Varney had implied that Posner has changed his views on antitrust and now favors a more interventionist antitrust policy. Josh helpfully pointed us to Posner’s own remarks, which do not support Ms. Varney’s “gloss.” Ms. Varney is not ... Wright’s Right on Posner
Correcting the Record: AAG Varney and the Chicago School's Premature "Retirement"
Geoff recently highlighted AAG Christine Varney’s closing remarks at the Horizontal Merger Guidelines workshop and was fairly critical. Thom intervened to suggest that we at TOTM, while fairly critical of the agencies from time to time, also give credit where it is due — highlighting AAG Varney’s RPM article. OK, that’s enough credit for now. ... Correcting the Record: AAG Varney and the Chicago School's Premature "Retirement"
Varney Gets It Right on RPM
Tomorrow I will be presenting my paper, A Decision-Theoretic Rule of Reason for Minimum Resale Price Maintenance, at the Next Generation of Antitrust Scholarship Conference at NYU Law School. (Kudos to Danny Sokol for co-organizing what promises to be a terrific event!) My paper criticizes four proposed approaches to evaluating RPM post-Leegin, and it sets ... Varney Gets It Right on RPM
Varney on the Merger Guidelines
Yesterday the final Horizontal Merger Guidelines Review workshop was held and, among other antitrust luminaries, our own Josh Wright participated. We look forward to a report from the front lines. Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General Varney’s comments are available on the interwebs. Overall her remarks seem uncontroversial, especially following on the heels of the agency’s (surprising?) ... Varney on the Merger Guidelines
Debating Google
Apologies for the late notice on this. Last week I was on a Federalist Society panel discussing Google’s antitrust issues with Rick Rule, Susan Creighton and Scott Cleland. The event description follows, and you can find audio of the panel here. It was an interesting discussion, full of nice ironies in that Microsoft’s chief outside ... Debating Google
Welcome From the Agencies
I think this symposium is a terrific idea and thank Josh Wright for organizing it. As Chairman Leibowitz and AAG Varney said, we want to have as open a process as possible as we explore whether to update the HMG and, if so, how. There can hardly be a more open place for a symposium ... Welcome From the Agencies
Welcome to the Truth on the Market Merger Guidelines Symposium
With the recent DOJ and FTC announcement that they will solicit public comment and hold joint workshops to explore the possibility of “updating” the Horizontal Merger Guidelines (“HMG”) in December 2009 and January 2010, the attention of the antitrust community has turned away from the heated Section 2 debates (the subject of our last symposium) ... Welcome to the Truth on the Market Merger Guidelines Symposium
American Booksellers Association Advances Bad Antitrust Argument, But Who Can Blame Them?
The WSJ Reports that the American Booksellers Association has knocked on Christine Varney’s door at the Antitrust Division to complain about the new low prices resulting from the price war between Amazon, Target and Wal-Mart. The complaint? In a letter dated Oct. 22, the ABA said it believes that the discount pricing—which has led to ... American Booksellers Association Advances Bad Antitrust Argument, But Who Can Blame Them?
Coming Soon: New Merger Guidelines
The possibility of new Merger Guidelines has been much discussed in the antitrust community, particularly in light of appointment of the two new chief agency economists, Carl Shapiro and Joe Farrell, who have done substantial work on the economics of horizontal mergers and market definition. Today, the FTC and DOJ announced a series of workshops ... Coming Soon: New Merger Guidelines
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"
