Showing archive for: “Corporate Governance”
Intel and US Government Investments in American Companies
Last month’s announcement that the U.S. government had obtained a 10% equity stake in U.S. semiconductor giant Intel raises big questions about the government’s role in the market economy. The government historically has invested in (and sometimes briefly taken over) firms in key sectors in response to national crises—most recently, the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Such investments ... Intel and US Government Investments in American Companies
Warner Bros Discovery: We Have Another SpinCo
Warner Bros. Discovery announced yesterday it will split into two separate companies, following Comcast’s similar move to spin off its cable networks into a new entity called Versant. (Laugh all you want at Versant’s name, it’s better than Tronc or Monday.) To those who haven’t followed the sector’s challenges, the Warners and Comcast decisions might ... Warner Bros Discovery: We Have Another SpinCo
Perspectives on Industrial Policy: An Interview with Alden Abbott
From a broad perspective, could you provide us with an overview of the current global trend toward the implementation of industrial policy? In your opinion, what are the primary drivers behind the shift? Industrial policy has long been present in various forms, often manifesting as ad-hoc interventions and subsidies that affect market processes. What we’re ... Perspectives on Industrial Policy: An Interview with Alden Abbott
Broadband Deployment, Pole Attachments, & the Competition Economics of Rural-Electric Co-ops
In our recent issue brief, Geoffrey Manne, Kristian Stout, and I considered the antitrust economics of state-owned enterprises—specifically the local power companies (LPCs) that are government-owned under the authority of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). While we noted that electricity cooperatives (co-ops) do not receive antitrust immunities and could therefore be subject to antitrust enforcement, we ... Broadband Deployment, Pole Attachments, & the Competition Economics of Rural-Electric Co-ops
Old Ideas and the New New Deal
Over the past decade and a half, virtually every branch of the federal government has taken steps to weaken the patent system. As reflected in President Joe Biden’s July 2021 executive order, these restraints on patent enforcement are now being coupled with antitrust policies that, in large part, adopt a “big is bad” approach in ... Old Ideas and the New New Deal
FTC Competition Rulemaking Flunks a Cost-Benefit Test
There is little doubt that Federal Trade Commission (FTC) unfair methods of competition rulemaking proceedings are in the offing. Newly named FTC Chair Lina Khan and Commissioner Rohit Chopra both have extolled the benefits of competition rulemaking in a major law review article. What’s more, in May, Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter (during her stint as acting ... FTC Competition Rulemaking Flunks a Cost-Benefit Test
Dynamic Merger Efficiencies: The Case of Pharmaceutical Markets
The recent launch of the international Multilateral Pharmaceutical Merger Task Force (MPMTF) is just the latest example of burgeoning cooperative efforts by leading competition agencies to promote convergence in antitrust enforcement. (See my recent paper on the globalization of antitrust, which assesses multinational cooperation and convergence initiatives in greater detail.) In what is a first, ... Dynamic Merger Efficiencies: The Case of Pharmaceutical Markets
The (Conventional) 5G Chairman
Chairman Ajit Pai prioritized making new spectrum available for 5G. To his credit, he succeeded. Over the course of four years, Chairman Pai made available more high-band and mid-band spectrum, for licensed use and unlicensed use, than any other Federal Communications Commission chairman. He did so in the face of unprecedented opposition from other federal ... The (Conventional) 5G Chairman
The Forgotten Strand of the Anti-Monopoly Tradition in Anglo-American Law
Admirers of the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and other antitrust populists often trace the history of American anti-monopoly sentiments from the Founding Era through the Progressive Era’s passage of laws to fight the scourge of 19th century monopolists. For example, Matt Stoller of the American Economic Liberties Project, both in his book Goliath ... The Forgotten Strand of the Anti-Monopoly Tradition in Anglo-American Law
The Antitrust Prohibition of Favoritism, or the Imposition of Corporate Selflessness
It is my endeavor to scrutinize the questionable assessment articulated against default settings in the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit against Google. Default, I will argue, is no antitrust fault. Default in the Google case drastically differs from default referred to in the Microsoft case. In Part I, I argue the comparison is odious. Furthermore, in ... The Antitrust Prohibition of Favoritism, or the Imposition of Corporate Selflessness
For the Bar, Competition is Always “Unethical”
State bar associations, with the backing of state judiciaries and legislatures, are typically entrusted with a largely unqualified monopoly over licensing in legal services markets. This poses an unavoidable policy tradeoff. Designating the bar as gatekeeper might protect consumers by ensuring a minimum level of service quality. Yet the gatekeeper is inherently exposed to influence ... For the Bar, Competition is Always “Unethical”
Would You Rather: Merger or Nationalization?
While much of the world of competition policy has focused on mergers in the COVID-19 era. Some observers see mergers as one way of saving distressed but valuable firms. Others have called for a merger moratorium out of fear that more mergers will lead to increased concentration and market power. In the meantime, there has ... Would You Rather: Merger or Nationalization?
