The Economics of Friendship
Here is an excerpt from Eric Posner’s review of Ethan Leib’s book on regulating friendship, Friend v. Friend: We should require an affirmative reason to regulate. Leib says that friendship is important, that it is central to human identity, that—since friends enter economic relationships with each other—it may lubricate economic growth. But surely none of ... The Economics of Friendship
Elite College Pays — For Men, But Not Women
David Leonhart points out the new Dale & Krueger study on the value of an elite undergraduate education. His punchline: A decade ago, two economists — Stacy Dale and Alan Krueger — published a research paper arguing that elite colleges did not seem to give most graduates an earnings boost. As you might expect, the ... Elite College Pays — For Men, But Not Women
SCOTUS Denies Cert in Leegin II
From the WSJ: The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to take another look at its controversial 2007 antitrust ruling that allowed manufacturers to set retail prices for their products. The court, without comment, rejected an appeal by the Texas boutique retailer that was on the losing end of the court’s 5-4 decision nearly four ... SCOTUS Denies Cert in Leegin II
Some Links
Ann Althouse is indispensable on the Wisconsin protests (start here to catch up) David Henderson on collective bargaining rights Bainbridge on the top 10 presidents The latest on the potential Apple antitrust investigations (see my previous commentary here)
Is the FTC Moving to the National Gallery of Art?
The Federal Trade Commissioners have posted a letter to Congressmen John Mica and Nick Rahall, members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, “in response to legislative action by the Committee to transfer the historic FTC Building to the National Gallery of Art.” I had not heard about any planned legislative action to move the ... Is the FTC Moving to the National Gallery of Art?
Dan Crane’s The Institutional Structure of Antitrust Enforcement
Dan Crane’s new book is now available from Oxford University Press (HT: Danny Sokol). Dan has been a repeat visitor to TOTM, is a co-author, and his scholarship on is always insightful. I suspect this book will become a standard reference in the growing antitrust institutions literature. Here is the book description from the OUP ... Dan Crane’s The Institutional Structure of Antitrust Enforcement
Antitrust and ObamaCare
There is an interesting story developing on antitrust enforcement and collaboration between hospitals and doctors encouraged by the new health care law. The New York Times reports: An influential Republican member of the Federal Trade Commission, J. Thomas Rosch, said that without “vigorous antitrust enforcement,” the new alliances of health care providers could reduce competition ... Antitrust and ObamaCare
Revisiting the Theory and Evidence on State CPAs and FTC Act Section 5 Follow-ons
One of the most fundamental issues in the ongoing debate concerning the costs and benefits of expanded FTC Section 5 enforcement is the extent to which one must be concerned with its collateral consequences. A central claim of proponents of a broad interpretation of Section 5 coupled with its aggressive enforcement is that concerns with ... Revisiting the Theory and Evidence on State CPAs and FTC Act Section 5 Follow-ons
American Economic Review’s Top 20 of the Last 100 Years
The paper is here (HT: Steve Salop). The AER’s The Top 20 Committee, consisting of Kenneth J. Arrow, B. Douglas Bernheim, Martin S. Feldstein, Daniel L. McFadden, James M. Poterba, and Robert M. Solow, made the selections. The list is alphabetical, of course, but TOTM readers will observe that it starts off particularly well (see ... American Economic Review’s Top 20 of the Last 100 Years
Big Antitrust Casebook News
OK. Big news for me, anyway. I’m very pleased to announce that I will be joining Andy Gavil, (also my former boss) William Kovacic, and Jonathan Baker as a co-author of the forthcoming Third Edition of Antitrust Law in Perspective: Cases, Concepts and Problems in Competition Policy. The new edition should be available for Spring ... Big Antitrust Casebook News
Is There an Obvious Free Market Bias in Economics Journals?
So Paul Krugman asserts: I can well imagine that it’s hard to be a conservative in some social sciences, but in economics, the obvious bias in things like acceptance of papers at major journals is towards, not against, a doctrinaire free-market view. I doubt it. That is testable, I suppose; so long as one can ... Is There an Obvious Free Market Bias in Economics Journals?
The Behavioral Economics of Going to Bed Angry
And other lessons in the (applied) economics of marriage (HT: Mankiw).
