Showing results for: “price gouging”
Problems with Proposed Solutions to the Common Ownership Problem
Even if institutional investors’ common ownership of small stakes in competing firms did cause some softening of market competition—a claim that is both suspect as a theoretical matter and empirically shaky—the policy solutions common ownership critics have proposed would do more harm than good. Einer Elhauge has called for public and private lawsuits against institutional ... Problems with Proposed Solutions to the Common Ownership Problem
Problems with the Evidence of Anticompetitive Harm from Common Ownership
Mike Sykuta and I have been blogging about our new paper responding to scholars who contend that institutional investors’ common ownership of small stakes in competing firms significantly reduces market competition and should be restricted. (FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips cited the paper yesterday in his excellent prepared remarks on common ownership.) Mike first described the ... Problems with the Evidence of Anticompetitive Harm from Common Ownership
Weekend reads
Good government dies in the darkness. This article is getting a lot of attention on Wonk Twitter and what’s left of the blogosphere. From the abstract: We examine the effect of local newspaper closures on public finance for local governments. Following a newspaper closure, we find municipal borrowing costs increase by 5 to 11 basis ... Weekend reads
Problems With the Theory of Anticompetitive Harm from Common Ownership
Mike Sykuta and I have been blogging about our recent paper on so-called “common ownership” by institutional investors like Vanguard, BlackRock, Fidelity, and State Street. Following my initial post, Mike described the purported problem with institutional investors’ common ownership of small stakes in competing firms. As Mike explained, the theory of anticompetitive harm holds that small-stakes ... Problems With the Theory of Anticompetitive Harm from Common Ownership
A preliminary assessment of the relative antitrust risk of a Comcast vs Disney purchase of 21st Century Fox assets
As has been rumored in the press for a few weeks, today Comcast announced it is considering making a renewed bid for a large chunk of Twenty-First Century Fox’s (Fox) assets. Fox is in the process of a significant reorganization, entailing primarily the sale of its international and non-television assets. Fox itself will continue, but ... A preliminary assessment of the relative antitrust risk of a Comcast vs Disney purchase of 21st Century Fox assets
The net neutrality CRA may be the most tedious piece of political theater ever
At this point, only the most masochistic and cynical among DC’s policy elite actually desire for the net neutrality conflict to continue. And yet, despite claims that net neutrality principles are critical to protecting consumers, passage of the current Congressional Review Act (“CRA”) disapproval resolution in Congress would undermine consumer protection and promise only to ... The net neutrality CRA may be the most tedious piece of political theater ever
The Case for Doing Nothing: The ‘Problem’ of Common Ownership
As Thom previously posted, he and I have a new paper explaining The Case for Doing Nothing About Common Ownership of Small Stakes in Competing Firms. Our paper is a response to cries from the likes of Einer Elhauge and of Eric Posner, Fiona Scott Morton, and Glen Weyl, who have called for various types ... The Case for Doing Nothing: The ‘Problem’ of Common Ownership
The Tariff Act is indeed protectionist — and that’s how Congress wants it
Although not always front page news, International Trade Commission (“ITC”) decisions can have major impacts on trade policy and antitrust law. Scott Kieff, a former ITC Commissioner, recently published a thoughtful analysis of Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Products — a potentially important ITC investigation that implicates the intersection of these two policy areas. Scott was ... The Tariff Act is indeed protectionist — and that’s how Congress wants it
What’s hip (in antitrust) today should stay passé: Henry G. Manne on “hipster antitrust”
Today would have been Henry Manne’s 90th birthday. When he passed away in 2015 he left behind an immense and impressive legacy. In 1991, at the inaugural meeting of the American Law & Economics Association (ALEA), Manne was named a Life Member of ALEA and, along with Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase, and federal appeals court ... What’s hip (in antitrust) today should stay passé: Henry G. Manne on “hipster antitrust”
Closing the Rural Digital Divide Requires Understanding the Rural Digital Divide
I had the pleasure last month of hosting the first of a new annual roundtable discussion series on closing the rural digital divide through the University of Nebraska’s Space, Cyber, and Telecom Law Program. The purpose of the roundtable was to convene a diverse group of stakeholders — from farmers to federal regulators; from small ... Closing the Rural Digital Divide Requires Understanding the Rural Digital Divide
Amazon and the Unwisdom of the Populist Crowd
There are some who view a host of claimed negative social ills allegedly related to the large size of firms like Amazon as an occasion to call for the company’s break up. And, unfortunately, these critics find an unlikely ally in President Trump, whose tweet storms claim that tech platforms are too big and extract unfair rents ... Amazon and the Unwisdom of the Populist Crowd
The illiberal vision of neo-Brandeisian antitrust
Following is the (slightly expanded and edited) text of my remarks from the panel, Antitrust and the Tech Industry: What Is at Stake?, hosted last Thursday by CCIA. Bruce Hoffman (keynote), Bill Kovacic, Nicolas Petit, and Christine Caffarra also spoke. If we’re lucky Bruce will post his remarks on the FTC website; they were very ... The illiberal vision of neo-Brandeisian antitrust
