Showing results for: “price gouging”
Some Reactions to the Obama Housing Plan
First, Peter Klein: I am bewildered. But, more than that, I am angry. I can’t count how many news accounts I’ve seen about the poor, struggling homeowners who can’t make the monthly mortgage payment, are about to be foreclosed, and risk losing the family home, yard, white picket fence, and piece of the American Dream. ... Some Reactions to the Obama Housing Plan
TradeComet.com v. Google (UPDATED: With Complaint)
Anybody want to share a copy of the complaint? (Email: jwrightg at gmu dot edu). UPDATE: Here’s a copy of the TradeComet Complaint. Thanks to an anonymous reader. Some brief comments on the highlights of the Complaint. Per Thom’s comment below, it looks like the thrust of the complaint is not the price hike which ... TradeComet.com v. Google (UPDATED: With Complaint)
What's the Empirical Evidence on RPM?
I’ve been reading the papers for the FTC RPM Workshops, though I cannot attend. On the procompetitive side, I especially recommend Ben Klein’s explanation of how RPM facilitates the supply of promotional services in the absence of dealer free-riding. Critics of RPM, in my view, generally do not understand the fundamental economic point that retailer ... What's the Empirical Evidence on RPM?
FTC RPM Workshops This Week
Tuesday and Thursday this week the FTC will be hosting the first two in a series of workshops on Resale Price Maintenance. Presentation materials, slides, and papers are available on the website.
To Whom It May Concern: Please Stop Calling RPM Agreements Cartels (or Price-Fixing)
The headline of this Bloomberg story on the Swiss Competition Authority’s complaint against Bayer, Pfizer and Lilly announces that the firms operated an “Erection Drug Cartel.” I read a bit further to learn something about what I suspected, from the title of the story, would be a horizontal agreement between the firms — that is ... To Whom It May Concern: Please Stop Calling RPM Agreements Cartels (or Price-Fixing)
Sirius-XM Merger Retrospective…
It looks like Sirius-XM is now contemplating bankruptcy (HT: Danny Sokol). There were quite a few critics of the Bush administration’s decision not to challenge the merger. Various antitrust commentators and critics (as well as rivals like the NAB) lined up on the side of enforcement, arguing that the merger would lead to a monopoly ... Sirius-XM Merger Retrospective…
Wanna Keep This Economic Mess to a Minimum? Honor Contracts.
New York Times business columnist Joe Nocera insists that current economic conditions call for courts to ignore carefully negotiated contracts between sophisticated business entities. Arguing that Dow Chemical Company should be free to walk away from its agreement to buy specialty chemical manufacturer Rohm & Haas, Mr. Nocera contends that “maybe, just maybe, deals that ... Wanna Keep This Economic Mess to a Minimum? Honor Contracts.
"One thing is clear to me: the orthodox and unvarnished Chicago School of economic theory is on life support, if it is not dead"
More settling economic debates by declaration and without regard to the evidence. When you make declarations like this it is best to do your homework. Consider the following: The Post-Chicago theoretical advances are well known to be built upon the foundation laid by Chicago School founders like Aaron Director — it is simply misleading to ... "One thing is clear to me: the orthodox and unvarnished Chicago School of economic theory is on life support, if it is not dead"
More Hayek (and Buchanan), Less Keynes
Dick Armey has a nice op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal. The piece, titled Washington Could Use Less Keynes and More Hayek, echoes points I made recently in criticizing the stimulus and advising President Obama on good stuff to read. Armey writes: Sound money policy, [Hayek argued], allowed the disparate knowledge of millions of economic ... More Hayek (and Buchanan), Less Keynes
More Evasion of Pricing Constraints as Antitrust Violations: Vertical Merger Edition
I’ve criticized elsewhere what appears to the the FTC’s new “evasion of pricing constraint” theory of monopolization emerging from Ovation (see also here), N-Data, and Rambus. I expressed some concern that this theory had no limiting principles and was detached in important ways from sound economics: Here are a few examples of conduct the FTC ... More Evasion of Pricing Constraints as Antitrust Violations: Vertical Merger Edition
Seriously, Alpha = 0? Have You Read the Bill?
Not to harp on the same point over and over, but can anybody look at this list from the stimulus package with a straight face and claim that the absence of inefficient government spending (HT: Peter Klein)? $1 billion for Amtrak $2 billion for child-care subsidies $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts ... Seriously, Alpha = 0? Have You Read the Bill?
Varney Instead of Elhauge at DOJ?
So says Bloomberg. UPDATE: More from DOJ: The White House is expected to nominate Christine Varney, a former Federal Trade Commission member and Internet-law expert, as Justice Department antitrust chief, people briefed on the move said. Jon Leibowitz, a current FTC member, is the leading candidate for commission chairman, but the decision isn’t final, these ... Varney Instead of Elhauge at DOJ?
