The Archives

Everything written by Hal Singer on law, economics, and more

Hal Singer

Hal Singer is managing director of Econ One, a professor in the economics department at the University of Utah, and the executive director the Utah Project, an interdisciplinary institute dedicated to the study of antitrust and consumer protection. He was previously a senior fellow at the George Washington Institute of Public Policy and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.

In 2018, the American Antitrust Institute honored Singer with an antitrust enforcement award for his work in the Lidoderm antitrust litigation. He received his bachelor's from Tulane University and his PhD in economics from the Johns Hopkins University.

Posts

Exclusion and the BCS

Hal Singer Nov 07, 2011

Every year around this time—around week 10 of college football season—we are reminded of the inequity of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) system. Instead of permitting an open playoff system to determine the college football champion, as is done by most other NCAA sports including Division II football since 1973, and more famously, NCAA basketball, ... Exclusion and the BCS

World Series Meltdown, Moneyball, and Ron Washington

Hal Singer Oct 31, 2011

Watching my baseball team get eliminated from the World Series was hard to swallow. Watching it happen two years in a row was worse. And watching a manager make critical mistakes when a championship was on the line in Game 6 was beyond the pale. As endearing as Ron Washington is to watch during a ... World Series Meltdown, Moneyball, and Ron Washington

Debunking the New York Times Editorial on Wireless Competition

Hal Singer Oct 27, 2011

Yesterday, the editorial page of the New York Times opined that wireless consumers needed “more protection” than that afforded by voluntary agreements by the carriers and existing regulation. The essay pointed to the “troublesome pricing practices that have flourished” in the industry, including Verizon’s alleged billing errors, as the basis for stepped up enforcement. As ... Debunking the New York Times Editorial on Wireless Competition

BroadbandNews & Social MediaPlatforms

The Bulldozer Solution to the Housing Crisis

Hal Singer Oct 24, 2011

My inaugural blog on two-sided markets did not elicit much reaction from TOTM readers. Perhaps it was too boring. In a desperate attempt to generate a hostile comment from at least one housing advocate, I have decided to advocate bulldozing homes in foreclosure as one (of several) means to relieve the housing crisis. Not with ... The Bulldozer Solution to the Housing Crisis

Consumer ProtectionEconomicsExclusionary Conduct

The Fate of the FCC’s Open Internet Order–Lessons from Bank Fees

Hal Singer Oct 17, 2011

Economists have long warned against price regulation in the context of network industries, but until now our tools have been limited to complex theoretical models. Last week, the heavens sent down a natural experiment so powerful that the theoretical models are blushing: In response to a new regulation preventing banks from charging debit-card swipe fees ... The Fate of the FCC’s Open Internet Order–Lessons from Bank Fees

BroadbandConsumer ProtectionFCC