Coase, Penalty Defaults, and the Disgorgement Remedy for Breach of Fiduciary Duty
Law students, I have found, often have a hard time seeing how the Coase Theorem applies outside the context of land use conflicts. They also tend to think Coase’s insight is not so important because, they recite (parroting some of their professors), “Transactions costs are always present.” This saddens me, for the more I look ... Coase, Penalty Defaults, and the Disgorgement Remedy for Breach of Fiduciary Duty
Is There Really Less Securities Fraud? And If So, Should We Thank the Feds?
Securities fraud class-actions are down. In an op-ed in yesterday’s WSJ, Joseph Grundfest observed that both the number of such actions and the dollar value of total damages claims have dropped dramatically since mid-2005. Why has this decline occurred? Grundfest considers several possible reasons. First, the decline might be due to the criminal prosecution of ... Is There Really Less Securities Fraud? And If So, Should We Thank the Feds?
Clearly, the word should be avoided.
I learned many wonderful lessons from the judge for whom I clerked. One of those was to avoid using the word “clearly” when making legal arguments. “Clearly,” the judge insisted, is a crutch word lawyers tend to use when the answer is far from clear (e.g., “my client clearly deserves to win under this test”). ... Clearly, the word should be avoided.
Let Ethanol Fail
The recent State of the Union address, in which President Bush called for an almost 500% increase in alternative fuel consumption by 2017, once again turned the nation’s attention to the various elixirs that promise to make the U.S. “energy independent.” The closer we look, though, the less appealing the leading alternative fuel — ethanol ... Let Ethanol Fail
Antitrust Superprecedent
Shubha Ghosh, of the Antitrust & Competition Policy Blog, is predicting that the Supreme Court will not overrule the 1911 Dr. Miles decision, which holds that “vertical minimum resale price maintenance” (i.e., a manufacturer’s imposition of minimum resale price for his goods) is per se illegal. Ghosh explains: [T]he grant of cert in Leegin is ... Antitrust Superprecedent
Revisiting Two Classics as the New Semester Begins
Last Friday was the first day of my Business Organizations class. We began with two articles that have profoundly influenced my thinking about the world in general and the business world in particular. To inaugurate the new semester, I thought I’d take a moment and pay tribute to the insights in those articles (and solicit ... Revisiting Two Classics as the New Semester Begins
Loyalty Discount Propositions
One of the more interesting parts of the November 29 DOJ/FTC hearing on loyalty discounts (where I presented these remarks) was the panelists’ discussion of a number of “propositions” advanced, for purposes of discussion only, by the agencies. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to discuss all the propositions. I’ve reproduced them below the fold, along ... Loyalty Discount Propositions
Bye Bye, Dr. Miles.
So it looks like Dr. Miles is going down. That’s a good thing. For non-antitrusters, Dr. Miles is a 1911 Supreme Court decision holding that “minimum vertical resale price maintenance” is per se illegal — that is, automatically illegal without inquiry into the practice’s actual effect on competition. Minimum vertical resale price maintenance (or “RPM”) ... Bye Bye, Dr. Miles.
Bundled Discounts Remarks (More to Come…)
In response to Josh’s gentle nudge, here are my remarks from Wednesday’s DOJ/FTC hearing on loyalty discounts. I focus entirely on bundled discounts (as opposed to single-product loyalty discounts, like volume or market-share discounts). Bundled discounts are discounts (or rebates) that are conditioned upon purchasing separate products from disparate product markets — e.g., “we’ll give ... Bundled Discounts Remarks (More to Come…)
Crane and Lambert on Hovenkamp — the Closet Chicagoan
Cardozo professor Dan Crane and I are living parallel lives. We both attended Wheaton College and the University of Chicago Law School (Dan was two years ahead of me). We began teaching at the same time. We both teach antitrust law and have written on bundled discounts. Like Josh, we’re both presenting at the DOJ/FTC ... Crane and Lambert on Hovenkamp — the Closet Chicagoan
Please Don’t Regulate Zillowtalk
Several months ago, Geoff posted about Zillow.com, a website purporting to provide “Free, Instant Valuations and Data for 67,000,000+ Homes (…and you don’t have to enter any personal info and no one will contact you).” Several of us played around on Zillow a bit and concluded that it’s not all that accurate at estimating home ... Please Don’t Regulate Zillowtalk
Familiar Rantings at the Washington Post
In January, Washington, D.C. will join the nearly 500 cities nationwide that have thwarted the free market’s accommodation of heterogeneous preferences and have ordered private property owners to forbid their invitees from engaging in otherwise legal behavior. I am speaking, of course, of Washington’s forthcoming smoking ban. The Washington Post was gracious enough to permit ... Familiar Rantings at the Washington Post
