Showing results for: “price gouging”
Can insider trading combat accounting fraud?
Last year I suggested that regulators would better fight corporate fraud by letting those in the know trade on the information than through the complex whistleblowing rules like those in Dodd-Frank. Robert Wagner has similar thoughts. The article is Gordon Gekko to the Rescue?: Insider Trading as a Tool to Combat Accounting Fraud. Here’s the ... Can insider trading combat accounting fraud?
Eighth Circuit Affirms District Court Against FTC in Lundbeck
Here’s the decision; here is my prior post concerning the district court decision. I suspect the FTC was fairly confident it would succeed in persuading the panel to reverse. The appeal turns on whether the district court was clearly erroneous in ruling that the FTC had failed to properly define a relevant market, and in ... Eighth Circuit Affirms District Court Against FTC in Lundbeck
A response to LawProf and MacEwen
I wasn’t going to comment on LawProf’s attacks on his profession. But now that it has been endorsed by Bruce MacEwen, aka Adam Smith, Esq., an otherwise insightful commentator on the legal profession, I feel compelled to say something. In a nutshell, MacEwen endorses what he says are LawProf’s three primary points: that the rising ... A response to LawProf and MacEwen
The Durbin Fee
Given the crucial role debit card “swipe” fees played in causing the recent financial crisis, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin insisted that the Dodd-Frank law (you know, the one that left Fannie and Freddie untouched) impose price controls on debit card transactions. Ben Bernanke, who apparently doesn’t have enough on his plate, was tasked with determining banks’ processing and fraud-related costs ... The Durbin Fee
Competing Against Bundled Discounts: Lessons from Regional Airlines
Flying back from a hiking trip to spectacular Glacier National Park (see pics below the fold), I overheard a flight attendant say something that made me think of, what else?, bundled discounts. “We also fly for Delta,” the United flight attendant told the woman in front of me. That’s when I realized I was really flying on ... Competing Against Bundled Discounts: Lessons from Regional Airlines
D.C. Auction Design Malpractice?
Zipcar apparently has been the exclusive user of the 84 or so parking spaces D.C. allocates to car-sharing companies until very recently when the District’s DOT put them up for auction: The city’s department of transportation offers what are now 84 curbside parking spaces to car-sharing companies, which had up until recently been all Zipcar’s. ... D.C. Auction Design Malpractice?
Research Handbook on the Economics of Family Law
Edward Elgar has published the Research Handbook on the Economics of Family Law — available here and here or here — co-edited by myself and Lloyd Cohen. While a bit outside my normal intellectual strike zone, its an area with such a diverse and important set of topics, a lot of cool data, and application ... Research Handbook on the Economics of Family Law
Short-selling and market efficiency
Another day, another paper showing evidence of the negative effect on market efficiency of bans on short-selling. Today it’s Yerkes, Regulatory Trading Restrictions, Overvaluation, and Insider Selling. Here’s the abstract: A contentious debate is emerging over the regulatory response to the financial crisis. This paper takes advantage of a rare opportunity to empirically test sweeping ... Short-selling and market efficiency
Government spending, cargo cults, and rules for growth
When the debate about the debt ceiling and spending gets past name-calling to real issues, it’s about the best path to growth and jobs. An example of the pro-spending view is James Surowiecki in the current New Yorker: [T]he spending cuts * * * will likely hit precisely the kind of public spending—on infrastructure, basic ... Government spending, cargo cults, and rules for growth
Efficiency, Competition, Capital Formation, Investor Protection, Apple Pie and Puppies
One of the things that I hope to spend more time doing now that I have returned to the blogosphere is open-source article writing. By that I mean blogging about an article idea and updating it as I progress. Some say it’s a bad plan…people might steal your ideas, or maybe you expose yourself to ... Efficiency, Competition, Capital Formation, Investor Protection, Apple Pie and Puppies
The AIG-General Re reversals
A Second Circuit panel knocked over yet another federal prosecution, this one of General Re and AIG executives who were convicted of propping up AIG with an allegedly sham reinsurance transaction. As summarized by a WSJ editorial, the abuses that sent this prosecution down the tubes “include prejudicial evidence, botched jury instructions and “compelling inconsistencies” ... The AIG-General Re reversals
The Efficiency of Metering Tie-Ins
Have you ever had to get on your hands and knees at Office Depot to find precisely the right printer cartridge? It’s maddening, no? Why can’t the printer manufacturers just settle on a single design configuration, the way lamp manufacturers use common light bulbs? You might think the printer manufacturer is trying to enhance its ... The Efficiency of Metering Tie-Ins
