Showing archive for: “Economics”
Replacing the economic absurdity of New Jersey’s Tesla direct sales ban with a callous reward for rent-seeking
Earlier this week the New Jersey Assembly unanimously passed a bill to allow direct sales of Tesla cars in New Jersey. (H/T Marina Lao). The bill Allows a manufacturer (“franchisor,” as defined in P.L.1985, c.361 (C.56:10-26 et seq.)) to directly buy from or sell to consumers a zero emission vehicle (ZEV) at a maximum of ... Replacing the economic absurdity of New Jersey’s Tesla direct sales ban with a callous reward for rent-seeking
Need for Chinese Antitrust Reform (and IP and Price-Related Concerns) Spotlighted at ABA Beijing Conference
The American Bar Association’s (ABA) “Antitrust in Asia: China” Conference, held in Beijing May 21-23 (with Chinese Government and academic support), cast a spotlight on the growing economic importance of China’s six-year old Anti-Monopoly Law (AML). The Conference brought together 250 antitrust practitioners and government officials to discuss AML enforcement policy. These included the leaders ... Need for Chinese Antitrust Reform (and IP and Price-Related Concerns) Spotlighted at ABA Beijing Conference
Auto Dealers Dealing Tesla MO Roadblocks
Our TOTM colleague Dan Crane has written a few posts here over the past year or so about attempts by the automobile dealers lobby (and General Motors itself) to restrict the ability of Tesla Motors to sell its vehicles directly to consumers (see here, here and here). Following New Jersey’s adoption of an anti-Tesla direct ... Auto Dealers Dealing Tesla MO Roadblocks
Predatory pricing reform rides the Marrakech Express
As I noted in my prior post, two weeks ago the 13th Annual Conference of the International Competition Network (ICN) released two new sets of recommended best practices. Having focused on competition assessment in my prior blog entry, I now turn to the ICN’s predatory pricing recommendations. Aggressive price cutting is the essence of competitive ... Predatory pricing reform rides the Marrakech Express
Lessons from Marrakech for US regulatory reform: All aboard the train
I thank Truth on the Market (and especially Geoff Manne) for adding me as a regular TOTM blogger, writing on antitrust, IP, and regulatory policy. I am a newly minted Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and alumnus of BlackBerry and the Federal Trade Commission. Representatives of over 100 competition agencies from around the ... Lessons from Marrakech for US regulatory reform: All aboard the train
Commissioner Wright Nails It on Minimum RPM
FTC Commissioner Josh Wright is on a roll. A couple of days before his excellent Ardagh/Saint Gobain dissent addressing merger efficiencies, Wright delivered a terrific speech on minimum resale price maintenance (RPM). The speech, delivered in London to the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, signaled that Wright will seek to correct the FTC’s ... Commissioner Wright Nails It on Minimum RPM
Murray L. Weidenbaum, R.I.P.
The world of economics and public policy has lost yet another giant. Joining Ronald Coase, James Buchanan, Armen Alchian, and Robert Bork is a man whose name may be less familiar to TOTM readers but whose ideas have been hugely influential, particularly on me. As the first chairman of President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers, ... Murray L. Weidenbaum, R.I.P.
So What’s Going to Happen to Securities Fraud Class Actions? Some Thoughts on Halliburton
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Halliburton v. Erica P. John Fund, a case that could drastically alter the securities fraud landscape. Here are a few thoughts on the issues at stake in the case and a cautious prediction about how the Court will rule. First, some quick background for the ... So What’s Going to Happen to Securities Fraud Class Actions? Some Thoughts on Halliburton
Appropriate humility from Verizon over corporations’ role in stopping NSA surveillance
Like most libertarians I’m concerned about government abuse of power. Certainly the secrecy and seeming reach of the NSA’s information gathering programs is worrying. But we can’t and shouldn’t pretend like there are no countervailing concerns (as Gordon Crovitz points out). And we certainly shouldn’t allow the fervent ire of the most radical voices — ... Appropriate humility from Verizon over corporations’ role in stopping NSA surveillance
Commissioner Wright takes the FTC to task for its dangerous technocratic mindset in his Nielsen merger dissent
Commissioner Wright makes a powerful and important case in dissenting from the FTC’s 2-1 (Commissioner Ohlhausen was recused from the matter) decision imposing conditions on Nielsen’s acquisition of Arbitron. Essential to Josh’s dissent is the absence of any actual existing market supporting the Commission’s challenge: Nielsen and Arbitron do not currently compete in the sale ... Commissioner Wright takes the FTC to task for its dangerous technocratic mindset in his Nielsen merger dissent
On Debating Imaginary Felds
Harold Feld, in response to a recent Washington Post interview with AEI’s Jeff Eisenach about AEI’s new Center for Internet, Communications, and Technology Policy, accused “neo-conservative economists (or, as [Feld] might generalize, the ‘Right’)” of having “stopped listening to people who disagree with them. As a result, they keep saying the same thing over and over again.” (Full disclosure: ... On Debating Imaginary Felds
Truth on the Market on Coase
Not surprisingly, we’ve discussed Coase quite a bit here at Truth on the Market. Follow this link to see our collected thoughts on Coase over the years. Probably my favorite, and certainly most frequently quoted, of Coase’s many wise words is this: One important result of this preoccupation with the monopoly problem is that if an ... Truth on the Market on Coase
