The Archives

Everything written by Joshua D. Wright on law, economics, and more

Gordon Tullock Retires From George Mason

News like this, is in no small part due to men scholars like Gordon Tullock whose presence at the law school was a significant one.  Gordon announced his retirement today (HT: Boettke).  In the coming days, there will likely be a number of statements of admiration of Gordon and his work from people who knew ... Gordon Tullock Retires From George Mason

Searle Center Events this Fall

Northwestern University’s Searle Center on Law, Regulation and Economic Growth is one of the most intellectually interesting and active centers for law and economics around.  Here’s a lineup of research roundtables and conferences scheduled for this fall.  I’ll be lucky enough to be a Visiting Fellow at the Searle Center for a week this September, ... Searle Center Events this Fall

Antitrust Fallacies of Fact and Theory

Steve Hurwitz as a characteristically thoughtful and provocative post over at Austrian Economists on identifying the most dangerous fallacies of fact and theory in economics that a reasonably informed layperson would believe. Steve’s nominations are that the average person believes that the “economic well-being of the average American is on the decline” (fallacy of fact) ... Antitrust Fallacies of Fact and Theory

FTC at 100 Online Forum

We’ve mentioned the FTC at 100 self-assessment project before. The FTC at 100 home page is available here and has links to webcasts and other relevant material. The webcast of the July Washington DC event is already up. The next scheduled events are in Chicago at Northwestern University in September and Boston in October. Another ... FTC at 100 Online Forum

Some Links

Some blog posts I’ve been reading: Professor Bainbridge makes a lot of sense on the case against the Socratic Method in law teaching (so does Gordon Smith). By the way (and the Professor probably does not remember this), but he also gave me very good advice when I went on the job market in 2004. ... Some Links

Obama v. McCain Debate Antitrust?

Well, not exactly. But the under card sponsored by the DC Bar is still pretty impressive: James Rill (Howrey, representing McCain) v. Bill Kolasky (Wilmer Hale, representing Obama) September 24 at GW Law School. HT: Antitrust Review.

Why Antitrust?

As the start of the new academic year inches closer, and students are deciding what courses to take, I thought I’d give a little plug to antitrust law. I’ve seen enrollment in antitrust courses vary dramatically over the past 10 years or so since I was a student and now as a professor. I certainly ... Why Antitrust?

Antitrust Source: Required Antitrust Reading for the Next Administration

In the current issue of Antitrust Source, including my own submission which I blogged about here.

Optimal Regulatory Design, Fragmentation, and Abolition

In response to my post about the optimal institutional design for merger enforcement and the problems associated with dual federal enforcement, a reader points me to this related paper by Jon Klick, Francesco Parisi, and Norbert Schulz in the International Review of Law and Economics which models alternatives for allocating decision-making across multiple agencies. One ... Optimal Regulatory Design, Fragmentation, and Abolition

International Antitrust Explosion in the FT

Financial Times (HT: Danny Sokol) highlights the problem of multi-jurisdictional antitrust enforcement, emphasizing the rise of India and China.  The article repeats the basic point, worth repeating, that international cooperation can help avoid bad outcomes with multiple regulatory stakeholders with different incentives and institutional environments: That is not a criticism of the new competition rules ... International Antitrust Explosion in the FT

Wolfers on the Decline of Happiness Inequality

Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Here is the paper with Betsey Stevenson.

Corporate Assassinations and Antitrust

Over at Overcoming Bias, they are asking the following question: Given how little it seems to cost to have someone killed, why don’t more corporations have their competitors’ leaders knocked off? There are interesting answers in the comments suggesting that perhaps these killings or rival firms’ leaders are more common or more costly than commonly ... Corporate Assassinations and Antitrust