Showing results for: “Michael Vita”
Twitter v. Taamneh and the Law & Economics of Intermediary Liability
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law will host a hearing this afternoon on Gonzalez v. Google, one of two terrorism-related cases currently before the U.S. Supreme Court that implicate Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. We’ve written before about how the Court might and should rule in ... Twitter v. Taamneh and the Law & Economics of Intermediary Liability
Why I’m a Skeptic of a Noncompete Ban
Under a recently proposed rule, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would ban the use of noncompete terms in employment agreements nationwide. Noncompetes are contracts that workers sign saying they agree to not work for the employer’s competitors for a certain period. The FTC’s rule would be a major policy change, regulating future contracts and retroactively ... Why I’m a Skeptic of a Noncompete Ban
Is Market Concentration Actually Rising?
Everyone is worried about growing concentration in U.S. markets. President Joe Biden’s July 2021 executive order on competition begins with the assertion that “excessive market concentration threatens basic economic liberties, democratic accountability, and the welfare of workers, farmers, small businesses, startups, and consumers.” No word on the threat of concentration to baby puppies, but the ... Is Market Concentration Actually Rising?
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?
Imposed Final Offer Arbitration: Price Regulation by Any Other Name
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” says Al Pacino’s character, Michael Corleone, in Godfather III. That’s how Facebook and Google must feel about S. 673, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA). Gus Hurwitz called the bill dead in September. Then it passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now, there ... Imposed Final Offer Arbitration: Price Regulation by Any Other Name
Political Philosophy, Competition, and Competition Law: The Road to and from Neoliberalism, Part 3
As it has before in its history, liberalism again finds itself at an existential crossroads, with liberally oriented reformers generally falling into two camps: those who seek to subordinate markets to some higher vision of the common good and those for whom the market itself is the common good. The former seek to rein in, ... Political Philosophy, Competition, and Competition Law: The Road to and from Neoliberalism, Part 3
How Not to Use Industrial Policy to Promote Europe’s Digital Sovereignty
The concept of European “digital sovereignty” has been promoted in recent years both by high officials of the European Union and by EU national governments. Indeed, France made strengthening sovereignty one of the goals of its recent presidency in the EU Council. The approach taken thus far both by the EU and by national authorities ... How Not to Use Industrial Policy to Promote Europe’s Digital Sovereignty
Taking Cost-Benefit Analysis Seriously in Consumer-Data Regulation
In its Advance Notice for Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has requested public comment on an unprecedented initiative to promulgate and implement wide-ranging rules concerning the gathering and use of consumer data in digital markets. In this contribution, I will assume, for the sake of argument, ... Taking Cost-Benefit Analysis Seriously in Consumer-Data Regulation
Patent Eligibility, Competition, Innovation, Congress, and the Supreme Court
A highly competitive economy is characterized by strong, legally respected property rights. A failure to afford legal protection to certain types of property will reduce individual incentives to participate in market transactions, thereby reducing the effectiveness of market competition. As the great economist Armen Alchian put it, “[w]ell-defined and well-protected property rights replace competition by ... Patent Eligibility, Competition, Innovation, Congress, and the Supreme Court
DMA Update: It’s Still a Privacy Danger
The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) has been finalized in principle, although some legislative details are still being negotiated. Alas, our earlier worries about user privacy still have not been addressed adequately. The key rules to examine are the DMA’s interoperability mandates. The most recent DMA text introduced a potentially very risky new kind ... DMA Update: It’s Still a Privacy Danger
How Tech Startups Could Be a Casualty of the War on Self-Preferencing
We will learn more in the coming weeks about the fate of the proposed American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA), legislation sponsored by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that would, among other things, prohibit “self-preferencing” by large digital platforms like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft. But while the bill has ... How Tech Startups Could Be a Casualty of the War on Self-Preferencing
Hunting for Labor-Market Monopsonies (and Giffen Goods)
If you wander into an undergraduate economics class on the right day at the right time, you might catch the lecturer talking about Giffen goods: the rare case where demand curves can slope upward. The Irish potato famine is often used as an example. As the story goes, potatoes were a huge part of the ... Hunting for Labor-Market Monopsonies (and Giffen Goods)
