Showing archive for: “Economics”
A Comprehensive Overview (and Sound Analysis) of the Law and Economics of FRAND Litigation, Here and Abroad
Too much ink has been spilled in an attempt to gin up antitrust controversies regarding efforts by holders of “standard essential patents” (SEPs, patents covering technologies that are adopted as part of technical standards relied upon by manufacturers) to obtain reasonable returns to their property. Antitrust theories typically revolve around claims that SEP owners engage ... A Comprehensive Overview (and Sound Analysis) of the Law and Economics of FRAND Litigation, Here and Abroad
The Present State and Future Prospects of the International Competition Network (ICN)
Introduction The International Competition Network (ICN), a “virtual” organization comprised of most of the world’s competition (antitrust) agencies and expert non-governmental advisors (NGAs), held its Sixteenth Annual Conference in Porto, Portugal from May 10-12. (I attended this Conference as an NGA.) Now that the ICN has turned “sweet sixteen,” a stocktaking is appropriate. The ICN ... The Present State and Future Prospects of the International Competition Network (ICN)
A Brief Assessment of the Procompetitive Effects of Organizational Restructuring in the Ag-Biotech Industry
Today the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) Antitrust and Consumer Protection Research Program released a new white paper by Geoffrey A. Manne and Allen Gibby entitled: “A Brief Assessment of the Procompetitive Effects of Organizational Restructuring in the Ag-Biotech Industry.” Over the past two decades, rapid technological innovation has transformed the industrial organization of ... A Brief Assessment of the Procompetitive Effects of Organizational Restructuring in the Ag-Biotech Industry
Global Antitrust Institute Points the Way Toward Sounder Japanese Antitrust Guidelines
The indefatigable (and highly talented) scriveners at the Scalia Law School’s Global Antitrust Institute (GAI) once again have offered a trenchant law and economics assessment that, if followed, would greatly improve a foreign jurisdiction’s competition law guidance. This latest assessment, which is compelling and highly persuasive, is embodied in a May 4 GAI Commentary on ... Global Antitrust Institute Points the Way Toward Sounder Japanese Antitrust Guidelines
Global Antitrust Institute’s Critique of China’s Latest Antitrust-IP Guidelines is on the Mark
Over the last two years, the Scalia Law School’s Global Antitrust Institute (GAI) has taken a leadership role in promoting sound antitrust analysis of intellectual property rights (IPRs), through its insightful analysis of IP-antitrust guidance proffered by governments around the world (including by the United States antitrust agencies). Key concepts that inform the GAI’s IP ... Global Antitrust Institute’s Critique of China’s Latest Antitrust-IP Guidelines is on the Mark
How Uber uses innovative management tactics to incentivize its drivers: A critical commentary on Noam Scheiber’s “How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons”
In a recent long-form article in the New York Times, reporter Noam Scheiber set out to detail some of the ways Uber (and similar companies, but mainly Uber) are engaged in “an extraordinary experiment in behavioral science to subtly entice an independent work force to maximize its growth.” That characterization seems innocuous enough, but it is ... How Uber uses innovative management tactics to incentivize its drivers: A critical commentary on Noam Scheiber’s “How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons”
Innovation-driven market structure in the ag-biotech industry
Dynamic versus static competition Ever since David Teece and coauthors began writing about antitrust and innovation in high-tech industries in the 1980s, we’ve understood that traditional, price-based antitrust analysis is not intrinsically well-suited for assessing merger policy in these markets. For high-tech industries, performance, not price, is paramount — which means that innovation is key: ... Innovation-driven market structure in the ag-biotech industry
Antitrust review of ag-biotech mergers: Appropriability versus cannibalization
This symposium offers a good opportunity to look again into the complex relation between concentration and innovation in antitrust policy. Whilst the details of the EC decision in Dow/Dupont remain unknown, the press release suggests that the issue of “incentives to innovate” was central to the review. Contrary to what had leaked in the antitrust ... Antitrust review of ag-biotech mergers: Appropriability versus cannibalization
Effects of gene editing on ag-biotech antitrust
Commenting on Microsoft’s antitrust suit 18 years ago, Milton Friedman said the following: Your industry, the computer industry, moves so much more rapidly than the legal process, that by the time this suit is over, who knows what the shape of the industry will be. Though the legal process seems to be moving quickly in ... Effects of gene editing on ag-biotech antitrust
Contestability theory in the real world
Though concentration seems to be an increasingly popular metric for discussing antitrust policy (a backward move in my opinion, given the theoretical work by Harold Demsetz and others many years ago in this area), contestability is still the standard for evaluating antitrust issues from an economic standpoint. Contestability theory, most closely associated with William Baumol, ... Contestability theory in the real world
The Apple tax case: Plain vanilla competition policy?
Since Brussels has ordered Ireland to recover 13€ billion from Apple, much ink has been spilled on the European Commission’s (EC) alleged misuse of power and breach of the “rule of law.” In the Irish Times, Professor Liza Lovdahl-Gormsen wrote that the EC has been “bending” competition law to pursue a corporate taxation agenda in disguise. ... The Apple tax case: Plain vanilla competition policy?
Understanding ownership and property in the Digital Age
What does it mean to “own” something? A simple question (with a complicated answer, of course) that, astonishingly, goes unasked in a recent article in the Pennsylvania Law Review entitled, What We Buy When We “Buy Now,” by Aaron Perzanowski and Chris Hoofnagle (hereafter “P&H”). But how can we reasonably answer the question they pose ... Understanding ownership and property in the Digital Age
