Showing archive for: “Administrative Law”
A Quick Assessment of the FCC’s Appalling Staff Report on the AT&T Merger
As everyone knows by now, AT&T’s proposed merger with T-Mobile has hit a bureaucratic snag at the FCC. The remarkable decision to refer the merger to the Commission’s Administrative Law Judge (in an effort to derail the deal) and the public release of the FCC staff’s internal, draft report are problematic and poorly considered. But ... A Quick Assessment of the FCC’s Appalling Staff Report on the AT&T Merger
Larry Ribstein on The Future of Legal Education
What will legal education be like in the significantly deregulated world I’ve predicted in prior posts? I gave some thought to this question in my recent paper, Practicing Theory. There I pointed out that law schools, and particularly law faculty, have benefited from the same regulation that has benefited lawyers. Although lawyers now complain that ... Larry Ribstein on The Future of Legal Education
Legislative History of the National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996
We’ve been discussing the proxy access case, see here, here, and here, where the DC Circuit overturned an SEC rule for failure to meet its requirement under the National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996 to consider the effect of the rule on efficiency, competition, and capital formation in addition to its historical mandate to consider ... Legislative History of the National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996
Immigration, preemption and regulatory coordination
The Supreme Court has issued yet another preemption opinion in Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting. The federal Immigration Reform and Control Act makes it unlawful to employ a known unauthorized alien and preempts state sanctions “other than through licensing and similar laws.” The majority held this didn’t preempt Arizona’s broad definition of license to include such ... Immigration, preemption and regulatory coordination
Judd Stone on Behavioral Economics, Administrative Agencies, and Unintended Consequences
Professors Henderson and Ribstein touch on two theoretical failures of the behavioralist movement which both reveal the prematurity of ‘behaviorally-informed’ regulatory proposals: the behavioralist assumptions that (1) behavioral biases theoretically necessitate, or at least enable, public intervention, and (2) governmental entities can net improve individual outcomes over the status quo of unfettered, if limited, human ... Judd Stone on Behavioral Economics, Administrative Agencies, and Unintended Consequences
The Collected Works of Henry G. Manne
I’m delighted to report that the Liberty Fund has produced a three-volume collection of my dad’s oeuvre. Fred McChesney edits, Jon Macey writes a new biography and Henry Butler, Steve Bainbridge and Jon Macey write introductions. The collection can be ordered here. Here’s the description: As the founder of the Center for Law and Economics ... The Collected Works of Henry G. Manne
Section 2 Symposium: Bill Page on Microsoft’s ‘Forward-Looking’ Monopolization Remedy
The DOJ’s Section 2 Report speaks in general terms about the costs and benefits of various remedies for monopolization. It prefers “prohibitory” remedies, but holds open the possibility of “additional relief,” including “affirmative-obligation remedies. The Report specifically mentions the protocol-licensing requirement of the Microsoft final judgments (§ III.E, entered in November 2002) as an example ... Section 2 Symposium: Bill Page on Microsoft’s ‘Forward-Looking’ Monopolization Remedy
Section 2 Symposium: Bill Page on Microsoft and the DOJ’s General Standards of Exclusion
The DOJ’s § 2 Report offers two recommendations under the heading of “General Standards for Exclusionary Conduct.” First, for evaluating alleged acts of exclusion, the Report endorses the burden-shifting framework of the D.C. Circuit’s 2001 Microsoft decision. Second, after canvassing various standards of anticompetitive effect, the Report settles on the “disproportionality test,” under which “conduct ... Section 2 Symposium: Bill Page on Microsoft and the DOJ’s General Standards of Exclusion
Vizio Files Monopolization Suit Against Funai
This looks like an interesting suit involving antitrust, patents, and standard setting: VIZIO, Inc., America’s HDTV Company, announced today that it has filed an antitrust and unfair competition lawsuit in the United States District Court, Central District of California, against Funai Electronics Co., Ltd., a Japanese distributor of digital televisions and related components. In the ... Vizio Files Monopolization Suit Against Funai
Is Antitrust Too Complicated for Generalist Judges?
One of the highlights of my recent time as Scholar in Residence at the Federal Trade Commission was the opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds around on antitrust issues on investigations and policy projects as well some academic projects. The subject of this post is one of those academic projects. Motivated by ... Is Antitrust Too Complicated for Generalist Judges?
Antitrust Links
Luke Froeb (and the WSJ) on learning about potentially anticompetitive mergers from false negatives The Onion does antitrust (its a bit old, but still quite funny) Rumors of Microsoft investigation in China pickup again … Antitrust Review links to the petition for rehearing en banc and motion to disqualify the Commission as the administrative law ... Antitrust Links
