Showing archive for: “Advertising”
Privacy Cost-Benefit Analysis
As I mentioned in my previous post, there is a strong effort to regulate the use of information on the web in the name of “privacy.” The basic tradeoff that drives the web is that firms use information for advertising and other purposes,and in return consumers get lots of things free. Google alone offers about 40 free services, including the original ... Privacy Cost-Benefit Analysis
Privacy and Tracking
First I would like to thank Geoff Manne for inviting me to join this blog. I know most of my fellow bloggers and it is a group I am proud to be associated with. For my first few posts I am going to write about privacy. This is a hot topic. Senators McCain and Kerry ... Privacy and Tracking
Jack Calfee, In Memoriam, by Paul Rubin
My good friend and coauthor John E. (Jack) Calfee died suddenly of a heart attack last month. He was bon in 1941 and was 69 years old. Jack came late to economics. After graduating from Rice with a major in mathematics, he studied international relations at the University of Chicago and then worked for AT&T ... Jack Calfee, In Memoriam, by Paul Rubin
An update on the evolving e-book market: Kindle edition (pun intended)
[UPDATE: Josh links to a WSJ article telling us that EU antitrust enforcers raided several (unnamed) e-book publishers as part of an apparent antitrust investigation into the agency model and whether it is “improperly restrictive.” Whatever that means. Key grafs: At issue for antitrust regulators is whether agency models are improperly restrictive. Europe, in particular, ... An update on the evolving e-book market: Kindle edition (pun intended)
Microsoft undermines its own case
One of my favorite stories in the ongoing saga over the regulation (and thus the future) of Internet search emerged earlier this week with claims by Google that Microsoft has been copying its answers–using Google search results to bolster the relevance of its own results for certain search terms. The full story from Internet search ... Microsoft undermines its own case
The SEC, the First Amendment and general solicitation
Attorney Joseph McLaughlin (whose firm represents Goldman) writes in today’s WSJ about the approaching confrontation between the SEC and the First Amendment over the issue of general solicitation: Goldman Sachs stated that it wouldn’t offer Facebook shares to U.S. customers because “the level of media attention might not be consistent with the proper completion of ... The SEC, the First Amendment and general solicitation
The SEC recommends broker-dealer fiduciary duties
The SEC staff, acting under Dodd-Frank §913(g), has decided to recommend a “uniform fiduciary standard” for broker-dealers and investment advisors who provide investment advice to retail customers. The recommended rules would provide that the standard of conduct for all brokers, dealers, and investment advisers, when providing personalized investment advice about securities to retail customers (and ... The SEC recommends broker-dealer fiduciary duties
FCC Approves Comcast-NBC Merger With Conditions
While the FCC has announced its approval of the Comcast-NBC deal, The problem of overlapping agency review of mergers arises once again. We’ve discussed previously the costs of FCC merger view, and in particular, the issues of delay and imposition of conditions unrelated to the merger. The FCC review of the Comcast-NBC deal appears to ... FCC Approves Comcast-NBC Merger With Conditions
Jonathan Macey for SEC Commissioner
In a must-read op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal, Yale Law’s Jonathan Macey weighs in on Goldman Sachs’s decision to allow only foreign gazillionaires — no Americans, regardless of their wealth or sophistication — to invest in new shares of Facebook. Numerous observers have portrayed Goldman’s move as a “victory for the SEC.” The New York Times‘ ... Jonathan Macey for SEC Commissioner
Why can’t we have a better press corps?: WaPo Google antitrust edition
Steven Pearlstein at the Washington Post asks if it’s “Time to loosen Google’s grip.” The article is an analytical mess. Pearlstein is often a decent business reporter–I’m not sure what went wrong here, but this is a pretty shoddy piece of antitrust journalism. For the most part, the article is a series of tired claims ... Why can’t we have a better press corps?: WaPo Google antitrust edition
The EU tightens the noose around Google
Here we go again. The European Commission is after Google more formally than a few months ago (but not yet having issued a Statement of Objections). For background on the single-firm antitrust issues surrounding Google I modestly recommend my paper with Josh, Google and the Limits of Antitrust: The Case Against the Antitrust Case Against ... The EU tightens the noose around Google
Journalism as advertising
This NYT article about management problems at the Tribune came with the following ad: “The finest journalism in Chicago? The New York Times, as low as $3.70 a week.”
