Showing archive for: “Collusion & Cartels”
The Government Enters the Data-Sharing Game
The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) recently announced a proposed settlement with RealPage Inc. that would strictly prohibit the company from using competitors’ nonpublic data in its rental-pricing software. Curiously, that remedy is nearly the precise opposite of the September order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in a suit the DOJ ... The Government Enters the Data-Sharing Game
Is Competitiveness Transforming Competition Policy?
Nations around the world are reassessing antitrust policy (generally called “competition policy” overseas). Governments, regulators, and industry leaders are increasingly asking whether traditional antitrust enforcement is holding back the “competitiveness” of domestic firms. The term now shows up in speeches by European commissioners, in UK government directives, in U.S. merger battles, and in Canadian legislative ... Is Competitiveness Transforming Competition Policy?
Curbing Monopoly Union Abuses Benefits Workers and the Economy
U.S. labor unions have long enjoyed an antitrust exemption covering collective bargaining and related activities. But this exemption does not extend to anticompetitive monopolization undertaken by unions. Recent economic research demonstrates that the creation of monopoly unions may actually harm workers, in addition to undermining free-market competition. The administration may wish to consider a new ... Curbing Monopoly Union Abuses Benefits Workers and the Economy
Antitrust Takes on High Realtor Commissions
Recent private and government antitrust suits have been directed at stamping out a variety of allegedly anticompetitive real-estate industry practices. A 2024 settlement between private plaintiffs and the National Association of Realtors sought to reduce brokerage commissions by promoting transparency and competition among realtors. Sound antitrust enforcement, though no panacea, may over time prove to ... Antitrust Takes on High Realtor Commissions
FTC’s Three-Pronged Zillow/Redfin Complaint Contends Semantics Don’t Erase Collusion
The details laid out in a recent complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against internet listing services (ILS) Zillow and Redfin may conjure a sense of déjà vu for antitrust watchers: a nine-figure payment, a rival’s quiet retreat, and a contract that calls itself a “partnership” while disclaiming the name. Strip away the ... FTC’s Three-Pronged Zillow/Redfin Complaint Contends Semantics Don’t Erase Collusion
‘Limits of Antitrust’ by Frank Easterbrook
The Core Argument: Markets Beat Courts at Correcting Monopoly Frank H. Easterbrook’s 1984 Texas Law Review article “Limits of Antitrust” advances a deceptively simple thesis that fundamentally reoriented competition policy: antitrust law should recognize its own institutional limitations and design rules accordingly. The article contains two central insights. The first is that, because “antitrust is ... ‘Limits of Antitrust’ by Frank Easterbrook
Paying Whistleblowers to Take Down Cartels
Cartel collusion among competitors is widely seen as the “supreme evil of antitrust,” and for more than three decades, competition-law enforcers in the United States and abroad have cooperated to ferret out cartel activity. Beginning in the 1990s, major jurisdictions started to emphasize highly effective “leniency” agreements to get cartel members to inform on their ... Paying Whistleblowers to Take Down Cartels
Truth Cartels? The DOJ’s Misguided Leap into Viewpoint Regulation
In a surprising move, the U.S. Justice Department’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division has thrown its weight behind a lawsuit that could reshape how courts—and antitrust enforcers—think about competition in digital media. The agency’s statement of interest filed last month in Children’s Health Defense v. Washington Post doesn’t merely take up the legal merits of a questionable ... Truth Cartels? The DOJ’s Misguided Leap into Viewpoint Regulation
Could the DOJ and FTC Reform Regulations that Harm Competition?
When many think about monopolies and unfair business practices, they typically picture large corporations squashing smaller rivals. But there’s another significant culprit restricting competition that gets far less attention: government regulations themselves. The Trump administration has in recent weeks taken the first steps toward reining in some of these regulations. The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) ... Could the DOJ and FTC Reform Regulations that Harm Competition?
The View from Taiwan: A TOTM Q&A with Andy Chen
Andy, could you please tell us about your professional background? I am a law professor with an SJD degree from Northwestern University in the United States. My field of study is antitrust law and law & economics. From 2007-2010, I served as commissioner of the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission (TFTC). After that, I resumed my ... The View from Taiwan: A TOTM Q&A with Andy Chen
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
Can Antitrust Promote Competitiveness?
The major Western industrialized nations have experienced dramatically slower economic growth in recent decades. This slowdown has been particularly pronounced in the EU, though the United States has suffered, as well. Regulatory, tax, trade, and energy policy reforms that reduce market distortions and provide incentives for investment, production, and innovation could substantially address this problem. Recalibrating antitrust law (called ... Can Antitrust Promote Competitiveness?
