Nudge at Cato
Speaking of Nudge, Cato is holding a book forum on Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler’s new book on May 1 which will feature Sunstein, and comments from Will Wilkinson and my colleague Terrence Chorvat. Registration is free and you can also watch the event live at the link above.
Happy 94th Birthday Armen Alchian!
I wrote this brief post awhile back, and forgot to post it on April 12th, Armen’s 94th birthday. I’m late. But better late then never they say. On Armen Alchian’s 94th birthday, it seems appropriate to reflect on some of his contributions to economics and economic analysis of the law. Armen has been described as ... Happy 94th Birthday Armen Alchian!
Some Economics Links
James Pethokoukis at US News reports on interviews with chief economic advisers Austan Goolsbee and Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Brian Leiter is pleased to point out a study showing that while both groups are in the top 3, Philosophy majors outperform Economics majors on the LSAT. Leiter also gets in a playful dig, noting that the study ... Some Economics Links
Big Antitrust News: Rambus Overturned
The D.C. Circuit’s opinion is available here. Here is one of the key passages explaining the D.C. Circuit’s logic: To the extent that the ruling (which simply reversed a grant of dismissal) rested on the argument that deceit lured the SSO away from non-proprietary technology, see id., it cannot help the Commission in view of ... Big Antitrust News: Rambus Overturned
Nudge
Sunstein and Thaler have a series of posts over at Volokh Consipiracy on their new book Nudge, which expands on their notion of libertarian paternalism (see here, here , here and here). Something in the most recent post caught my eye. In preparing to respond to various objections to libertarian paternalism, Sunstein argues that this ... Nudge
The "New" Issue of JLE is Online
The new issue of the Journal of Law & Economics is available online. This is an exciting development for me because the issue includes my paper with Ben Klein on The Economics of Slotting Contracts (SSRN version available here), and because it has been a very long wait to see the paper in final form ... The "New" Issue of JLE is Online
The Economics of Post-Merger Product Repositioning
Amit Gandhi, Luke Froeb, Steven Tschantz and Gregory Werden have published “Post-Merger Product Repositioning” in the Journal of Industrial Economics. (HT: Luke). The critical insight is that the conventional unilateral effect incentive to raise prices post-merger is offset by the incentive to “separate” in product space. Here is the abstract: This paper analyzes the effects ... The Economics of Post-Merger Product Repositioning
"Leegin is a triumph of pragmatism"
That is what Judge Posner has to say about Leegin in his new book, How Judges Think. I’m only a few chapters in, but so far, its a fascinating read. I’ll probably blog some more about parts of the book later. In particular, I’ve been thinking recently about how the complexity of substantive antitrust analysis ... "Leegin is a triumph of pragmatism"
Searle Center Call for Antitrust Papers
Northwestern University School of Law’s Searle Center on Law, Regulation and Economic Growth will be holding a conference on Antitrust Economics and Competition Policy on September 26-27th. From the Call for Papers: The goal of this Research Symposium is to provide a forum where leading scholars from across the country can gather together with Northwestern’s ... Searle Center Call for Antitrust Papers
The Dual Antitrust Enforcement Question
With all of the recent talk of the “optimal regulatory structure” and proposals about regulatory consolidation and reorganization (here is Glom Blogger David Zaring on the Big Reorg), I wonder if the discussion might carry over into antitrust and the recurring “dual enforcement” question. As some of our readers may know, both the DOJ and FTC ... The Dual Antitrust Enforcement Question
Some GMU (and GMU Related) Hiring News
First, David Bernstein reports on GMU’s very productive hiring season which includes the additions of Helen Alvare, Laura Bradford, T.J. Chiang, Jonathan Mitchell, Adam Mossoff, Chris Newman, David Schleicher, and Jay Verret. Second, Brian Leiter reports that Jonathan Klick (Florida State), a graduate of GMU Law (and of the economics department with a Phd in ... Some GMU (and GMU Related) Hiring News
One More Thought on Ex Ante Competition and Merger Analysis
One last issue with respect to ex ante competition and merger analysis. What if it could be demonstrated convincingly that XM and Sirius payments to automobile manufacturers. The DOJ hints at this possibility in the press release: XM and Sirius engaged in head-to-head competition for the right to distribute their products and services through each ... One More Thought on Ex Ante Competition and Merger Analysis
