Showing archive for: “Consumer Welfare Standard”
What the European Commission’s More Interventionist Approach to Exclusionary Abuses Could Mean for EU Courts and for U.S. States
The European Commission on March 27 showered the public with a series of documents heralding a new, more interventionist approach to enforce Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which prohibits “abuses of dominance.” This new approach threatens more aggressive, less economically sound enforcement of single-firm conduct in Europe. ... What the European Commission’s More Interventionist Approach to Exclusionary Abuses Could Mean for EU Courts and for U.S. States
Why Competition Enforcers’ Annual Roundtable Should Focus on Competition Advocacy and Combating Anticompetitive Market Distortions
Spring is here, and hope springs eternal in the human breast that competition enforcers will focus on welfare-enhancing initiatives, rather than on welfare-reducing interventionism that fails the consumer welfare standard. Fortuitously, on March 27, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) are hosting an international antitrust-enforcement summit, featuring senior state and foreign ... Why Competition Enforcers’ Annual Roundtable Should Focus on Competition Advocacy and Combating Anticompetitive Market Distortions
7 Top Takeaways from the 2nd Annual Mercatus Antitrust Forum
At the Jan. 26 Policy in Transition forum—the Mercatus Center at George Mason University’s second annual antitrust forum—various former and current antitrust practitioners, scholars, judges, and agency officials held forth on the near-term prospects for the neo-Brandeisian experiment undertaken in recent years by both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ). ... 7 Top Takeaways from the 2nd Annual Mercatus Antitrust Forum
Brussels Effect or Brussels Defect: Digital Regulation in Emerging Markets
The blistering pace at which the European Union put forward and adopted the Digital Markets Act (DMA) has attracted the attention of legislators across the globe. In its wake, countries such as South Africa, India, Brazil, and Turkey have all contemplated digital-market regulations inspired by the DMA (and other models of regulation, such as the ... Brussels Effect or Brussels Defect: Digital Regulation in Emerging Markets
The New FTC Section 5 Policy Statement: Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing?
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Nov. 10 Policy Statement Regarding the Scope of Unfair Methods of Competition Under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act—adopted by a 3-1 vote, with Commissioner Christine Wilson issuing a dissenting statement—holds out the prospect of dramatic new enforcement initiatives going far beyond anything the FTC has done in ... The New FTC Section 5 Policy Statement: Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing?
The FTC Knows It When It Sees It
When Congress created the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 1914, it charged the agency with condemning “unfair methods of competition.” That’s not the language Congress used in writing America’s primary antitrust statute, the Sherman Act, which prohibits “monopoliz[ation]” and “restraint[s] of trade.” Ever since, the question has lingered whether the FTC has the authority to ... The FTC Knows It When It Sees It
FTC Section 5 Statement: Less Guidance Than Meets the Eye
On Nov. 10, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a new statement explaining how it will exercise its standalone FTC Act Section 5 authority. Despite the length of the statement and the accompanying commentaries from most of the commissioners, there is less guidance than one might expect from so many words. One thing is clear, ... FTC Section 5 Statement: Less Guidance Than Meets the Eye
Biweekly FTC Roundup: Commissioners Bite Horse Edition
The massive New Deal sculptures that frame Federal Trade Commission headquarters are both called “Man Controlling Trade.” And according to the Commission’s new Policy Statement Regarding Unfair Methods of Competition Under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, “Three Commissioners Controlling the Economy” appears to now be one of the agency’s guiding principles. The ... Biweekly FTC Roundup: Commissioners Bite Horse Edition
Lina Khan’s Christmas Wish Is To Have Margrethe Vestager’s Powers
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan has just sent her holiday wishlist to Santa Claus. It comes in the form of a policy statement on unfair methods of competition (UMC) that the FTC approved last week by a 3-1 vote. If there’s anything to be gleaned from the document, it’s that Khan and the ... Lina Khan’s Christmas Wish Is To Have Margrethe Vestager’s Powers
FTC Rejects Economics for ‘Fairness’
The current Federal Trade Commission (FTC) appears to have one overarching goal: find more ways to sue companies. The three Democratic commissioners (with the one Republican dissenting) issued a new policy statement earlier today that brings long-abandoned powers back into the FTC’s toolkit. Under Chair Lina Khan’s leadership, the FTC wants to bring challenges against ... FTC Rejects Economics for ‘Fairness’
FTC Biweekly UMC Roundup – Refugee from the FTC Edition
Faithful and even occasional readers of this roundup might have noticed a certain temporal discontinuity between the last post and this one. The inimitable Gus Hurwitz has passed the scrivener’s pen to me, a recent refugee from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the roundup is back in business. Any errors going forward are mine. ... FTC Biweekly UMC Roundup – Refugee from the FTC Edition
Political Philosophy, Competition, and Competition Law: The Road to and from Neoliberalism, Part 3
As it has before in its history, liberalism again finds itself at an existential crossroads, with liberally oriented reformers generally falling into two camps: those who seek to subordinate markets to some higher vision of the common good and those for whom the market itself is the common good. The former seek to rein in, ... Political Philosophy, Competition, and Competition Law: The Road to and from Neoliberalism, Part 3
