Showing results for: “price gouging”
Did Ellison buy HP information?
Some are saying that Larry Ellison is putting his money where his mouth is. He loudly defended Mark Hurd after his firing by HP, and now he’s hired the guy. Here’s the WSJ story. Maybe there’s more to this. HP and Oracle are competing over database products, and are making acquisitions in similar areas, such ... Did Ellison buy HP information?
The FTC Loses in Ovation Pharmaceuticals
There are some new developments in the Federal Trade Commission’s consummated merger case brought against Ovation. Namely, the FTC has lost. TOTM readers may recall that I spent some time criticizing the Federal Trade Commission’s complaint, back in 2008, in FTC v. Ovation in federal district court in Minnesota. As I described the stylized facts ... The FTC Loses in Ovation Pharmaceuticals
The Law and Economics of Privatizing Alcohol Sales
Economist and occasional TOTM guest blogger Steve Salop (Georgetown) recently sent me the following questions spurred by the local debate over Governor McConnell’s proposal to private the retailing of alcoholic beverages: I have my first antitrust class of the semester tomorrow. Among the issues I teach the first week are (1) the fact that demand ... The Law and Economics of Privatizing Alcohol Sales
More on the HMGs: Scoring Unilateral Effects with the GUPPI
Steve Salop, Serge Moresi, and John Woodbury have posted a very useful primer on the new HMGs new “value of diverted sales” approach to unilateral effects: the gross upward pricing pressure index (GUPPI). Here’s the basic idea: This concept of “value of diverted sales measured in proportion to the lost revenues attributable to the reduction ... More on the HMGs: Scoring Unilateral Effects with the GUPPI
The Roberts Court and the Limits of Antitrust
I’ve just finished a draft of a paper for an upcoming conference on the Roberts Court’s business law decisions. Volokh blogger Jonathan Adler, who directs the Center for Business Law and Regulation at Case Western, is organizing the conference. The other presenters are Adam Pritchard from Michigan (covering the Court’s securities decisions), Brian Fitzpatrick from ... The Roberts Court and the Limits of Antitrust
To Slice or Not To Slice; a Taxing Question
Earlier this week, the WSJ reported on a nuance in the New York state tax code that has come take a bite out of at least one bagel company’s profits, and it illustrates how the complexities of arbitrary taxation schemes can rear their ugly heads and create incentives–and challenges–for consumers and sellers alike that would ... To Slice or Not To Slice; a Taxing Question
Do the New HMGs Move From Cheap Talk to Commitment on Out-of-Market Efficiencies?
One of the primary concerns with the Proposed HMGs was that the new approach would lead to small relevant markets in order to better reflect the Agencies’ views that the traditional approach understated the importance of competition between close substitutes. I highlighted one analytical concern with this approach in a previous blog post: The real ... Do the New HMGs Move From Cheap Talk to Commitment on Out-of-Market Efficiencies?
Who Are You Calling A Price Theorist Anyway?: Commissioner Rosch Takes on the HMGs Economist “Architects”
Commissioner Rosch has offered an interesting separate statement on the new HMGs. While favoring the new guidelines generally, Commissioner Rosch offers several criticisms. I concur with a few of these criticisms, for example, Commissioner Rosch also argues for a more empirical approach to merger analysis. I agree with that general proposition despite, as we shall ... Who Are You Calling A Price Theorist Anyway?: Commissioner Rosch Takes on the HMGs Economist “Architects”
Why Take Antitrust? (Fall 2010 Edition)
In what has become an annual affair, around this time of the year, I like to make the case for law students to take antitrust. Each year, the post is edited and tweaked a little bit. So, without further ado, here is this year’s edition of “Why Take Antitrust?” As the start of the new ... Why Take Antitrust? (Fall 2010 Edition)
State Antitrust Law in Action
A predatory pricing case in California under Section 17043 results in a $21 million fine awarded to one newspaper, the Bay Guardian, in a suit against a competitor, San Francisco Weekly (HT: Reason). The suit alleged that the SF Weekly was selling advertising below cost for the purpose of harming a competitor. A summary of ... State Antitrust Law in Action
Why lawyers?
This is the real topic of Kenneth Anderson’s brief and more modestly titled Do Lawyers and Law Professors Have Any Comparative Advantages in Opining on Financial Regulation Reform? A Brief Essay. Anderson wonders whether “the skills of the lawyer and law professor are, at most, those of scribe seeking clearly to write down policy positions ... Why lawyers?
A Federal Reserve Worth Its Weight in…; or, A Gold Standard for the Modern Era
The Federal Reserve has been working with other international banking regulators in the Basel III process to alter bank capital reserves so that they are no longer pro-cyclical and based on unrealistic assumptions about economic growth during bull markets. The Fed now urges that banks need to hold reserves on a counter-cyclical basis. When times ... A Federal Reserve Worth Its Weight in…; or, A Gold Standard for the Modern Era
