Showing archive for: “Barriers to Entry”
The View from Brazil: A TOTM Q&A with Gustavo Augusto Freitas de Lima
Gustavo, could you please tell us a bit about yourself and your professional background? I’m a law practitioner with a master’s degree in law and public policy, specializing in constitutional and administrative law. I served as a federal attorney and litigator before the Brazilian Supreme Court and was appointed by the attorney general as the ... The View from Brazil: A TOTM Q&A with Gustavo Augusto Freitas de Lima
Beyond Market Definition: Key Economic Concepts in FTC v Amazon
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) antitrust suit against Amazon, originally filed in October 2023, is scheduled for trial in October 2026. While we’ve previously explored the market-definition questions at the center of this case, several other economic concepts will be equally important in determining whether Amazon has violated antitrust laws. Ahead of a scheduled March ... Beyond Market Definition: Key Economic Concepts in FTC v Amazon
DeepSeek Shows Why Regulators May Be Getting AI Wrong
For more than a year, competition regulators around the globe have been unified in issuing a clarion call that artificial intelligence (AI) risks becoming dominated by just a handful of firms. International competition agencies issued a joint statement in December warning that AI could entrench “market power” and reduce competition. Andreas Mundt, president of Germany’s ... DeepSeek Shows Why Regulators May Be Getting AI Wrong
Parsing Brazil’s ‘More Flexible’ Approach to Digital Markets
Following an extensive consultation period, Brazil’s Ministério da Fazenda (Ministry of Finance) last October unveiled its final digital-platform report. Given the public stances previously taken by Brazil’s would-be digital regulators—the antitrust agency Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE) and the telecommunications regulator Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (Anatel)—it was likely inevitable that the report would endorse ... Parsing Brazil’s ‘More Flexible’ Approach to Digital Markets
The View from India: A TOTM Q&A with Shivanghi Sukumar
Could you tell us a bit about your background and how you got interested in digital competition regulation? I am a competition lawyer, and have been practicing competition law in India since the early days of its enforcement. A big part of my work has been related to the enforcement of behavioral provisions, and I’ve ... The View from India: A TOTM Q&A with Shivanghi Sukumar
Don’t Believe the Hype (on Competition and AI)
As in the Public Enemy song that gives this post its title, the hype about alleged competition risks in the artificial intelligence (AI) “market” is a sequel—and not a good one—to the hyperbolic and dystopian view that has informed several recent antitrust-policy proposals and demands for tougher enforcement of competition laws, particularly in digital markets. ... Don’t Believe the Hype (on Competition and AI)
Mi Mercado Es Su Mercado: The Flawed Competition Analysis of Mexico’s COFECE
Mexico’s Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE, after its Spanish acronym) has published the preliminary report it prepared following its investigation of competition in the retail electronic-commerce market (e.g., Amazon). The report finds that: there are elements to preliminarily determine that there are no conditions of effective competition in the Relevant Market of Sellers and in ... Mi Mercado Es Su Mercado: The Flawed Competition Analysis of Mexico’s COFECE
A Brief History of the US Drug Approval Process, and the Birth of Accelerated Approval
This is the second post about the U.S. drug-approval process; the first post is here. It will explore how the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) arose, how disasters drove its expansion and regulatory oversight, and how the epidemic of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) changed the approval processes. The Arrival of New Medicines Lone inventors, ... A Brief History of the US Drug Approval Process, and the Birth of Accelerated Approval
Gatekeeping, the DMA, and the Future of Competition Regulation
The European Commission late last month published the full list of its “gatekeeper” designations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft—the six designated gatekeepers—now have six months to comply with the DMA’s list of obligations and restrictions with respect to their core platform services (CPS), or they stand to ... Gatekeeping, the DMA, and the Future of Competition Regulation
Is Amazon’s Scale a Harm?
Under the leadership of its professional anti-Amazoner Chair Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has finally filed its antitrust complaint against Amazon. No, not the complaint about how it’s unfair to take six clicks to cancel your Prime membership. This is the big one. It mostly revolves around sellers needing to use Amazon’s fulfillment ... Is Amazon’s Scale a Harm?
What Is a Barrier to Entry?
Why do monopolies exist? Many textbooks point to barriers to entry as a cause of monopolies. Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok’s textbook says: “In addition to patents, government regulation and economies of scale, monopolies may be created whenever there is a significant barrier to entry, something that raises the cost to new firms of entering the industry.” ... What Is a Barrier to Entry?
No More Kings? Due Process and Regulation Without Representation Under the UK Competition Bill
What should a competition law for 21st century look like? This point is debated across many jurisdictions. The Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Bill (DMCC) would change UK competition law’s approach to large platforms. The bill’s core point is to place the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) Digital Markets Unit (DMU) on a statutory footing with ... No More Kings? Due Process and Regulation Without Representation Under the UK Competition Bill
