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The collection of all scholarly commentary on law, economics, and more

Showing results for:  “digital markets act”

Holtz-Eakin & Smith on The Economics of ObamaCare

Douglas Holtz-Eakin and my former George Mason colleague and Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith are in the WSJ today discussing the economic wisdom and constitutionality of ObamaCare.  From the WSJ: The Obama administration defends the mandate on the ground that a person’s decision to not buy health insurance affects commerce by materially increasing the costs of ... Holtz-Eakin & Smith on The Economics of ObamaCare

The Apple E-Book Kerfuffle Meets Alfred Marshall’s Principles of Economics

From a pure antitrust perspective, the real story behind the DOJ’s Apple e-book investigation is the Division’s deep commitment to the view that Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) clauses are anticompetitive (see also here), no doubt spurred on at least in part by Chief Economist Fiona Scott-Morton’s interesting work on the topic. Of course, there are other important ... The Apple E-Book Kerfuffle Meets Alfred Marshall’s Principles of Economics

The DOJ’s Problematic Attack on Property Rights Through Merger Review

The DOJ’s recent press release on the Google/Motorola, Rockstar Bidco, and Apple/ Novell transactions struck me as a bit odd when I read it.  As I’ve now had a bit of time to digest it, I’ve grown to really dislike it.  For those who have not followed Jorge Contreras had an excellent summary of events ... The DOJ’s Problematic Attack on Property Rights Through Merger Review

More Bailout Fallout: Non-buyer’s Remorse

An interesting story in the WSJ Online today about American International Group (AIG)’s use of a standard tax write-off and the political firestorm it is creating…all because the Washington establishment thought it could hide behind semantics during the bailout era. The benefits at issue were accrued by AIG as it amassed record losses amid the ... More Bailout Fallout: Non-buyer’s Remorse

Tax

Google Isn’t ‘Leveraging Its Dominance,’ It’s Fighting To Avoid Obsolescence

Six months may not seem a great deal of time in the general business world, but in the Internet space it’s a lifetime as new websites, tools and features are introduced every day that change where and how users get and share information. The rise of Facebook is a great example: the social networking platform ... Google Isn’t ‘Leveraging Its Dominance,’ It’s Fighting To Avoid Obsolescence

David Schleicher on City Unplanning

Forbes interviews my colleague and office neighbor David Schleicher on his new and very interesting paper, City Unplanning.  This paper continues Schleicher’s interesting line of research on the law and economics of cities with a creative and powerful analysis of the political economy of zoning in big cites. Here’s a brief snippet from the start ... David Schleicher on City Unplanning

Greg Werden in Defense of Defining Markets

One of the more significant papers in antitrust of late has been Professor Kaplow’s Why (Ever) Define Markets?  Kaplow provocatively argues that the entire “market definition/ market share” paradigm of antitrust is misguided and beyond repair.  Kaplow describes the exclusive role of market definition in that paradigm as generating inferences about market power, argues that ... Greg Werden in Defense of Defining Markets

A Tale of Two Subsidies

Last week’s business news highlighted two tremendous subsidy programs. In one case, the company received no direct payment for product development. None of its suppliers received targeted subsidies to produce parts. But consumers were subsidized to encourage them to buy the product. In the other case, the company received direct payments to underwrite the cost ... A Tale of Two Subsidies

Is Dental Care a Preventive Measure Health Insurers Must Cover? Let’s Hope Not.

I recently heard an ominous NPR story on the rise in trips to the emergency room by people seeking dental treatment.  In 2009 alone, Tennessee’s emergency rooms had more than 55,000 dental-related visits — five times as many as for burns.  Florida’s emergency rooms experienced over 115,000 ER visits for dental matters in 2010.  Charges for those visits totaled $88 million. This ... Is Dental Care a Preventive Measure Health Insurers Must Cover? Let’s Hope Not.

Local Barriers to Entry: Arlington Beer Garden Edition

Last week I posted about the regulatory barriers facing an ice cream shop in San Francisco.  A student passes along a story that hits a bit closer to home: the sale of beer right here in Arlington County.  Apparently, the owner of the Westover Beer Garden has had enough: It’s been a contentious couple of ... Local Barriers to Entry: Arlington Beer Garden Edition

2012 GMU Law & Economics Center Workshop on Empirical Methods for Law Professors

May 21-25 the GMU LEC will be hosting its Workshop on Empirical Methods for Law Professors once again this year.  Applications are available at the links below — and more information is available here. The Workshop on Empirical Methods for Law Professors is designed to teach law professors the conceptual and practical skills required to ... 2012 GMU Law & Economics Center Workshop on Empirical Methods for Law Professors

Got L&E Scholarship? Consider Submitting to the Supreme Court Economic Review

A colleague sent along the 2011 Washington & Lee law journal rankings.  As co-editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review (along with Todd Zywicki and Ilya Somin) I was very pleased to notice how well the SCER is faring by these measures.  While these rankings should always be taken with a grain of salt or ... Got L&E Scholarship? Consider Submitting to the Supreme Court Economic Review