Learning to Love Insider Trading
Today’s Wall Street Journal includes a terrific article explaining why insider trading should be deregulated. Following up on last week’s high-profile insider trading charges, George Mason economist Don Boudreaux, whose Cafe Hayek posts are essential reading, succinctly sets forth the deregulatory position (which was first and most famously articulated by Geoff’s dad, Henry Manne). Boudreaux ... Learning to Love Insider Trading
Kenneth Feinberg Must Be Super Smart!
Back during the days when socialism was all the rage among the intelligentsia, F.A. Hayek predicted that Soviet-style central planning was destined to fail because the central planners lacked access to, and couldn’t process, all the information needed to allocate productive resources efficiently. Optimal resource allocation can occur, Hayek contended, only if resources are allocated ... Kenneth Feinberg Must Be Super Smart!
Babies-R-Us and the Case Against a Presumption of Illegality for Retailer-Initiated RPM
According to the Wall Street Journal, the FTC is investigating whether retailer Toys-R-Us has violated the antitrust laws by inducing certain manufacturers to set minimum resale prices for their products (i.e., to engage in resale price maintenance, or “RPM”). The Journal first reports that the Commission “is investigating whether [Toys-R-Us] may have violated an 11-year-old ... Babies-R-Us and the Case Against a Presumption of Illegality for Retailer-Initiated RPM
Will the Public Insurance Plan Be a Predator?
Wall Street Journal columnist Thomas Frank inhabits a simple little world in which private enterprise, in its relentless pursuit of profit (i.e., charging more for something than it’s worth), is consistently a force for evil, and government, populated by wise and benevolent folk who have eschewed riches in favor of public service (see, e.g., Ted ... Will the Public Insurance Plan Be a Predator?
Another Way DOJ Might Pursue "Vigorous Antitrust Enforcement in This Challenging Era"
DOJ’s top antitrust enforcer Christine Varney had hardly gotten settled in her office before she repudiated the existing DOJ guidelines on policing single-firm conduct. In the spirit of Rahm Emanuel’s famous “never let a serious crisis go to waste” directive, Ms. Varney invoked the current economic crisis as grounds for her decision to throw out ... Another Way DOJ Might Pursue "Vigorous Antitrust Enforcement in This Challenging Era"
Thaler’s Unsound Argument About the Public Insurance Option
University of Chicago economist (and behavioralist doyen) Richard Thaler thinks “the question of whether a ‘public option’ should be part of the health care solution” is just “one big distraction.” In Sunday’s New York Times, Thaler argues that the debate over the public option is a “red herring” if, as President Obama insists, the public ... Thaler’s Unsound Argument About the Public Insurance Option
The EU’s Bass Ackward Approach to Evaluating Mergers
As American antitrust regulators hurtle headlong toward a Europeanized (i.e., competitor-focused) antitrust, I do hope they will at least avoid the tack the EU has taken in evaluating Lufthansa’s proposed takeover of Austrian Airlines. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that EU Antitrust Chief Neelie Kroes has directed her subordinates to draft a “conditional clearance” ... The EU’s Bass Ackward Approach to Evaluating Mergers
Expanding Insurance Coverage Is Not the Way to Reduce Health Care Costs
As his Council of Economic Advisers made clear in its recent health care report, President Obama sees two primary goals for his health care reform efforts: to slow the growth of health care costs and to expand coverage of health insurance. It’s pretty clear, though, which of these goals is steering the ship. While the ... Expanding Insurance Coverage Is Not the Way to Reduce Health Care Costs
It’s Like Rain on Your Wedding Day
President Obama in yesterday’s speech on fiscal responsibility: The reckless fiscal policies of the past have left us in a very deep hole. And digging our way out of it will take time, patience, and some tough choices.
Government Ownership of GM: Hands-Off Rhetoric Versus Jawboning Reality
In his recent speech on the GM bankruptcy, President Obama reassured Americans that the government, which now holds 60% of GM’s stock, is not going to try to take over management of the company: What we are not doing, what I have no interest in doing, is running GM. GM will be run by a ... Government Ownership of GM: Hands-Off Rhetoric Versus Jawboning Reality
Good Stuff (Including Josh Wright) on Intel in Today’s WSJ
Our own Josh Wright is quoted in the lead article in today’s Wall Street Journal. Josh opines that the European Union’s record $1.45 billion fine against Intel for lowering its prices on granting “exclusionary” rebates on microprocessors means that FTC action against Intel is “much more likely than it was two weeks ago.” And what ... Good Stuff (Including Josh Wright) on Intel in Today’s WSJ
Section 2 Symposium: Thom Lambert on The DOJ-FTC Divide on Bundled Discounts
A bundled discount occurs when a seller offers to sell a collection of different goods for a lower price than the aggregate price for which it would sell the constituent products individually. Such discounts pose different competitive risks than single-product discounts because, as I explained in this post, they may have an exclusionary effect even ... Section 2 Symposium: Thom Lambert on The DOJ-FTC Divide on Bundled Discounts
