Symposium on Empirical Antitrust in the Antitrust Law Journal
The application of empirical economic methods in antitrust can and should play an important, even central, role in the development of sound competition policy. For example, former FTC Chairman Tim Muris explicitly made the case that empirical examination of the economic foundations of antitrust could improve antitrust policy making and undertook efforts to make such ... Symposium on Empirical Antitrust in the Antitrust Law Journal
Zywicki on the Two-Income Trap Hypothesis
My colleague Todd Zywicki offers an empirical rebuttal to the Warren-Tyagi “Two Income Trap” hypothesis which asserts that families with two incomes end up more leveraged than families with single incomes and more susceptible to negative economic shocks than otherwise for a number of reasons, including, e.g. counterproductive bidding for housing, child care expenses, etc. ... Zywicki on the Two-Income Trap Hypothesis
Shelf Space Payments and Retail Bargaining Power
At his new blog Management R&D, Luke Froeb writes about the strategy of downstream firms reducing capacity in order to increase competition among suppliers: To gain bargaining power, some firms reduce capacity to increase competition among their suppliers. For example, health insurers restrict the number of drugs on their formularies or the number of hospitals ... Shelf Space Payments and Retail Bargaining Power
Antitrust in China
It appears that China may be very close to passing its Anti-Monopoly Law (HT: Danny Sokol). Like many others, I’ve been following these developments (see, e.g., the ABA’s comments on the proposed law here). I will also be taking a trip out to China sometime later this year and so am interested in learning as ... Antitrust in China
This is Bad News for GMU
From Brian Leiter: Vernon Smith, a seminal figure in “experimental economics,” whose work has also been influential in behavioral law and economics scholarship over the past decade, is moving with his research team from George Mason University to Chapman University. Smith’s joint appointments will include one in the Law School there. Wow. This is a ... This is Bad News for GMU
Antitrust News at GW Law
GW Law received a $5.1 million award to fund a Center for Competition Law resulting from the settlement of a class-action antitrust suit brought by Michael Hausfield (of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C., and a GW alum). According to the press release, Hausfeld argued that the Center would focus on the “special challenges to traditional antitrust ... Antitrust News at GW Law
A Comeback for Dr. Miles?
The Antitrust Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary will hold a hearing Tuesday morning on whether the Leegin decision is good antitrust policy. It is (see, e.g. our TOTM Leegin archives), but I suspect this hearing may be the beginning of the end for minimum RPM’s rule of reason era.
Junk Social Science in the Medical Bankruptcy Debate
My GMU colleague Todd Zywicki and Gail Heriot (USD) have an op-ed in the Washington Times exposing Harvard Professors David Himmelstein and Elizabeth Warren’s study on medical debt and bankruptcy, presented to Congress earlier this week, as “one of the most misleading pieces of research ever placed before Congress — no small dishonor.” The punchline ... Junk Social Science in the Medical Bankruptcy Debate
A New Blog: Management R&D
Luke Froeb and Brian McCann, authors of a leading managerial economics text, have launched a new blog: Management R&D. The subject matter of the posts so far look like they should be interesting to TOTM readers: the FTC credit-score based pricing report, M&A, price discrimination, and RPM.
Chicago, Post-Chicago, Post-Post-Chicago: On Using Shorthand Labels Responsibly
Over the past few weeks I’ve read at least two dozen papers, mostly by legal scholars (but some by economists) employing or critiquing economic analysis of law, that use the term “Chicago School,” in a critical and misleading way. Conventionally, use of this nomenclature comes along with a claim that “Chicago School” economics is code for a ... Chicago, Post-Chicago, Post-Post-Chicago: On Using Shorthand Labels Responsibly
The FTC Releases its Credit-Based Insurance Scores Report
Available here. Here are a few of the key findings of the study which examined the use of credit-based scores to determine automobile insurance rates: Scores effectively predict the number of claims consumers file and the total cost of those claims. Their use is likely to make the price of insurance better match the risk ... The FTC Releases its Credit-Based Insurance Scores Report
More Thoughts on Free Market Orthodoxy in Antitrust
In my last post I claimed that there is a no “free market economics orthodoxy” amongst antitrust economists or those working in the field of law and economics. In response to the post, an anonymous TOTM reader emails the following related, and probably more interesting, questions: “is there a free market orthodoxy amongst (1) legal ... More Thoughts on Free Market Orthodoxy in Antitrust
