Showing results for: “price gouging”
The market realities that undermine the antitrust case against Google
As the Google antitrust discussion heats up on its way toward some culmination at the FTC, I thought it would be helpful to address some of the major issues raised in the case by taking a look at what’s going on in the market(s) in which Google operates. To this end, I have penned a ... The market realities that undermine the antitrust case against Google
Dear DOJ: Take a Look at the Law Schools.
The U.S. Department of Justice sued eBay last week for agreeing not to poach employees from rival Intuit. According to the Department’s press release, “eBay’s agreement with Intuit hurt employees by lowering the salaries and benefits they might have received and deprived them of better job opportunities at the other company.” DOJ maintains that agreements among ... Dear DOJ: Take a Look at the Law Schools.
The Case for Copyright
Mark Schultz, law professor and specialist in copyright law, has written an excellent response to the Republican Study Committee policy brief on copyright law that has been making the rounds on the Internet the past several days. Although the RSC promptly retracted the policy brief, the blogosphere has erupted in commentary on what appeared to ... The Case for Copyright
Do Your Low-Wage Employees a Favor: Drop Their Health Care Coverage
Another day, another (presumably) unintended consequence of the Affordable Care Act. (I say presumably because there’s a plausible theory out there that the Act was engineered to fail and thereby pave the way for a single-payer health care system. I’m not cynical enough to embrace that view, though a close look at the Act reveals design flaws so ... Do Your Low-Wage Employees a Favor: Drop Their Health Care Coverage
Why the Affordable Care Act, as Construed by the Supreme Court, Will Fail
I’ve recently posted to SSRN a new paper with the same name as this post. The paper asserts, in greater detail, a number of points I’ve previously made on TOTM: Health insurance premiums will rise under the (SCOTUS-modified) ACA, because the Act’s “guaranteed issue” and “community rating” mandates will generate widespread adverse selection that cannot be ... Why the Affordable Care Act, as Construed by the Supreme Court, Will Fail
Let The Music Play: Critics Of Universal-EMI Merger Are Singing Off-Key
There are a lot of inaccurate claims – and bad economics – swirling around the Universal Music Group (UMG)/EMI merger, currently under review by the US Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission (and approved by regulators in several other jurisdictions including, most recently, Australia). Regulators and industry watchers should be skeptical of analyses that ... Let The Music Play: Critics Of Universal-EMI Merger Are Singing Off-Key
Have Elhauge and Wickelgren Undermined the Rule of Per Se Legality for Above-Cost Loyalty Discounts?
Einer Elhauge and Abraham Wickelgren, of Harvard and the University of Texas, respectively, have recently posted to SSRN a pair of provocative papers on loyalty discounts (price cuts conditioned on the buyer’s purchasing some amount, usually a percentage of its requirements, from the seller). Elhauge and Wickelgren take aim at the assertion by myself and ... Have Elhauge and Wickelgren Undermined the Rule of Per Se Legality for Above-Cost Loyalty Discounts?
Free Uber
From the NY Times: Uber, a company based in San Francisco, is introducing a smartphone app to New York that allows available taxi drivers and cab-seeking riders to find one another. The company said the service would begin operating on Wednesday in 105 cabs — a bit less than 1 percent of the city’s more ... Free Uber
Some Links
Competition on layaway fees Price discrimination over restaurant reservation times (HT: NY Times) Steve Calabresi & Larissa Price on the history of government granted monopolies and the constitution A settlement in the EU E-books investigation?
NPR’s List of Policies Economists Love
The NPR put together a panel of economists with various political and ideological views to see what economists agree on. (HT: Mankiw) Here is the list: One: Eliminate the mortgage tax deduction, which lets homeowners deduct the interest they pay on their mortgages. Gone. After all, big houses get bigger tax breaks, driving up prices for ... NPR’s List of Policies Economists Love
From July 30 WSJ
Wall Street Journal OPINION July 31, 2012 ‘A Climate That Helps Us Grow’ By PAUL H. RUBIN President Obama’s riff on small business—”If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that, somebody else made that happen”—has become a major controversy. The Romney campaign has made this quote the subject of several speeches and ads, and ... From July 30 WSJ
Why Premium Subsidies and the “Employer Mandate” Won’t Solve the ACA’s Adverse Selection Problem
A couple of weeks ago, I argued that the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act will ultimately doom the Act to failure. The problem, I argued, is that the ACA’s guaranteed issue and community rating provisions create a perverse incentive for young, healthy people not to buy insurance until they ... Why Premium Subsidies and the “Employer Mandate” Won’t Solve the ACA’s Adverse Selection Problem
