Why Did Sprint Pile On the DOJ’s AT&T / T-Mobile Suit?
So, the AT&T / T-Mobile transaction gets more and more interesting. Sprint has filed a complaint challenging the transaction. I’ve been commenting on the weakness of the DOJ complaint and in particular, its heavy reliance on market structure to make inferences about competitive effects. The heavy dose of structural presumption in the DOJ complaint — ... Why Did Sprint Pile On the DOJ’s AT&T / T-Mobile Suit?
Do Exclusionary Theories of the AT&T / T-Mobile Transaction Better Explain the Market’s Reaction to the DOJ’s Decision to Challenge the Merger?
I don’t think so. Let’s start from the beginning. In my last post, I pointed out that simple economic theory generates some pretty clear predictions concerning the impact of a merger on rival stock prices. If a merger is results in a more efficient competitor, and more intense post-merger competition, rivals are made worse off ... Do Exclusionary Theories of the AT&T / T-Mobile Transaction Better Explain the Market’s Reaction to the DOJ’s Decision to Challenge the Merger?
Why Is Sprint’s Stock Surging Upon the Announcement of the DOJ’s Challenge to the Proposed AT&T / T-Mobile Merger?
Basic economic theory underlies the conventional antitrust wisdom that if a merger makes the merging party a more effective competitorby lowering its costs, rivals facing this more effective competitor post-merger are made worse off, but consumers benefit. On the other hand, if a merger is likely to result in collusion or a unilateral price increase, ... Why Is Sprint’s Stock Surging Upon the Announcement of the DOJ’s Challenge to the Proposed AT&T / T-Mobile Merger?
DOJ Files Suit to Block AT&T / T-Mobile Merger
More on this later. For now, here is the complaint and the press release: WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice today filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T Inc.’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA Inc. The department said that the proposed $39 billion transaction would substantially lessen competition for mobile wireless telecommunications services ... DOJ Files Suit to Block AT&T / T-Mobile Merger
New Issue of Antitrust Law Journal
Now available online.
Hazlett & Wright on The Law and Economics of Network Neutrality
Thomas Hazlett and I have posted The Law and Economics of Network Neutrality: The Federal Communications Commission’s Network Neutrality Order regulates how broadband networks explain their services to customers, mandates that subscribers be permitted to deploy whatever computers, mobile devices, or applications they like for use with the network access service they purchase, imposes a ... Hazlett & Wright on The Law and Economics of Network Neutrality
Natural Disasters and Payday Lending
There has been plenty of Hurricane Irene blogging, and some posts linking natural disasters to various aspects of law and policy (see, e.g. my colleague Ilya Somin discussing property rights and falling trees). Often, post-natural disaster economic discussion at TOTM turns to the perverse consequences of price gouging laws. This time around, the damage from ... Natural Disasters and Payday Lending
Specialization and Exchange, Georgia Chopsticks Edition
From the Economist, and courtesy of Craig Newmark: Enter Georgia Chopsticks. Jae Lee, a former scrap-metal exporter, saw an opportunity and began turning out chopsticks for the Chinese market late last year. He and his co-owner, David Hughes, make their chopsticks from poplar and sweet-gum trees, which have the requisite flexibility and toughness, and are ... Specialization and Exchange, Georgia Chopsticks Edition
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
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
Antitrust in the Cards
Here is an interesting looking lawsuit involving restraints that Upper Deck imposes on Internet-only distributors: Upper Deck filed a lawsuit on its new distribution policy against Blowout Cards and other (as of yet unnamed) Internet-only stores in June 2011. Without rehashing the entire article, Upper Deck’s distribution policy basically requires its authorized hobby distributors to ... Antitrust in the Cards
