Showing results for: “price gouging”
Let’s Inject Antitrust Principles into Antidumping Law
In a Heritage Foundation paper released today, I argue that U.S. antidumping law should be reformed to incorporate principles drawn from the antitrust analysis of predatory pricing. A brief summary of my paper follows. Such a change would transform antidumping law from a special interest cronyist tool that harms U.S. consumers into a sensible procompetitive ... Let’s Inject Antitrust Principles into Antidumping Law
Leave a Little GUPPI Alone: Why Commissioner Wright is Right to Call for a Low-GUPPI Safe Harbor
FTC Commissioner Josh Wright has some wise thoughts on how to handle a small GUPPI. I don’t mean the fish. Dissenting in part in the Commission’s disposition of the Family Dollar/Dollar Tree merger, Commissioner Wright calls for creating a safe harbor for mergers where the competitive concern is unilateral effects and the merger generates a ... Leave a Little GUPPI Alone: Why Commissioner Wright is Right to Call for a Low-GUPPI Safe Harbor
A Vision of a Class-Free Society – California Suit Against Uber Makes Little Sense
Uber is currently facing a set of plaintiffs who are seeking class certification in the Northern District of California (O’Connor, et. al v. Uber, #CV 13-3826-EMC) on two distinct grounds. First, the plaintiffs allege that Uber systematically deprived them of tips from riders by virtue of how the service is presented to end-users and how ... A Vision of a Class-Free Society – California Suit Against Uber Makes Little Sense
The Second Circuit Misapplies the Per Se Rule in U.S. v. Apple
In its June 30 decision in United States v. Apple Inc., a three-judge Second Circuit panel departed from sound antitrust reasoning in holding that Apple’s e-book distribution agreement with various publishers was illegal per se. Judge Dennis Jacobs’ thoughtful dissent, which substantially informs the following discussion of this case, is worth a close read. In ... The Second Circuit Misapplies the Per Se Rule in U.S. v. Apple
Raisins, Takings, and the Regulatory State
Today, in Horne v. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Fifth Amendment requires that the Government pay just compensation when it takes personal property, just as when it takes real property, and that the Government cannot make raisin growers relinquish their property without just compensation as a condition of selling their ... Raisins, Takings, and the Regulatory State
Stare Decisis, Economic Efficiency, and Spider-Man
Today, in Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, a case involving the technology underlying the Spider-Man Web-Blaster, the Supreme Court invoked stare decisis to uphold an old precedent based on bad economics. In so doing, the Court spun a tangled web of formalism that trapped economic common sense within it, forgetting that, as Spider-Man was warned in ... Stare Decisis, Economic Efficiency, and Spider-Man
Don’t wanna brag or nothin, but critics have been right about net neutrality so far: TWC complaint and the Consumer Watchdog petition show it
Remember when net neutrality wasn’t going to involve rate regulation and it was crazy to say that it would? Or that it wouldn’t lead to regulation of edge providers? Or that it was only about the last mile and not interconnection? Well, if the early petitions and complaints are a preview of more to come, ... Don’t wanna brag or nothin, but critics have been right about net neutrality so far: TWC complaint and the Consumer Watchdog petition show it
New Paper: The Problems and Perils of Bootstrapping Privacy and Data into an Antitrust Framework
The CPI Antitrust Chronicle published Geoffrey Manne’s and my recent paper, The Problems and Perils of Bootstrapping Privacy and Data into an Antitrust Framework as part of a symposium on Big Data in the May 2015 issue. All of the papers are worth reading and pondering, but of course ours is the best ;). In it, ... New Paper: The Problems and Perils of Bootstrapping Privacy and Data into an Antitrust Framework
The FTC’s Cardinal Health Settlement is Bad Antitrust Medicine and Highlights the Need for Additional Antitrust Guidance
On April 17, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted three-to-two to enter into a consent agreement In the Matter of Cardinal Health, Inc., requiring Cardinal Health to disgorge funds as part of the settlement in this monopolization case. As ably explained by dissenting Commissioners Josh Wright and Maureen Ohlhausen, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ... The FTC’s Cardinal Health Settlement is Bad Antitrust Medicine and Highlights the Need for Additional Antitrust Guidance
The 2015 International Competition Network’s (ICN) Unilateral Conduct Workbook Chapter on Tying and Bundling
In a recent post, I presented an overview of the ICN’s recent Annual Conference in Sydney, Australia. Today I briefly summarize and critique a key product approved by the Conference, a new chapter 6 of the ICN’s Workbook on Unilateral Conduct, devoted to tying and bundling. (My analysis is based on a hard copy final ... The 2015 International Competition Network’s (ICN) Unilateral Conduct Workbook Chapter on Tying and Bundling
FCC restrictions on joint sales agreements: Yet another FCC rule without basis in evidence or economics
Recently, Commissioner Pai praised the introduction of bipartisan legislation to protect joint sales agreements (“JSAs”) between local television stations. He explained that JSAs are contractual agreements that allow broadcasters to cut down on costs by using the same advertising sales force. The efficiencies created by JSAs have helped broadcasters to offer services that benefit consumers, ... FCC restrictions on joint sales agreements: Yet another FCC rule without basis in evidence or economics
The Ninth Circuit botched its efficiencies analysis in the FTC v St Lukes antitrust case
Earlier this week the International Center for Law & Economics, along with a group of prominent professors and scholars of law and economics, filed an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit seeking rehearing en banc of the court’s FTC, et al. v. St Luke’s case. ICLE, joined by the Medicaid Defense Fund, also filed an ... The Ninth Circuit botched its efficiencies analysis in the FTC v St Lukes antitrust case
