Showing archive for: “Harm to Competition”
Some Good News (Maybe?) from DOJ’s Antitrust Division
I remain deeply skeptical of any antitrust challenge to the AT&T/Time Warner merger. Vertical mergers like this one between a content producer and a distributor are usually efficiency-enhancing. The theories of anticompetitive harm here rely on a number of implausible assumptions — e.g., that the combined company would raise content prices (currently set at profit-maximizing ... Some Good News (Maybe?) from DOJ’s Antitrust Division
IMG-Learfield: An antitrust reality check on two-sided market mergers
Yesterday Learfield and IMG College inked their recently announced merger. Since the negotiations were made public several weeks ago, the deal has garnered some wild speculation and potentially negative attention. Now that the merger has been announced, it’s bound to attract even more attention and conjecture. On the field of competition, however, the market realities ... IMG-Learfield: An antitrust reality check on two-sided market mergers
The antitrust laws are not some meta-legislation authorizing whatever regulation activists want: Labor market edition
In a recent post at the (appallingly misnamed) ProMarket blog (the blog of the Stigler Center at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business — George Stigler is rolling in his grave…), Marshall Steinbaum keeps alive the hipster-antitrust assertion that lax antitrust enforcement — this time in the labor market — is to blame ... The antitrust laws are not some meta-legislation authorizing whatever regulation activists want: Labor market edition
Democratic Party “Better Deal” Antitrust Proposals Would be a “Worse Deal” for the American Economy and Consumers
On July 24, as part of their newly-announced “Better Deal” campaign, congressional Democrats released an antitrust proposal (“Better Deal Antitrust Proposal” or BDAP) entitled “Cracking Down on Corporate Monopolies and the Abuse of Economic and Political Power.” Unfortunately, this antitrust tract is really an “Old Deal” screed that rehashes long-discredited ideas about “bigness is badness” ... Democratic Party “Better Deal” Antitrust Proposals Would be a “Worse Deal” for the American Economy and Consumers
A few thoughts on the European Commission decision against Google
Regardless of the merits and soundness (or lack thereof) of this week’s European Commission Decision in the Google Shopping case — one cannot assess this until we have the text of the decision — two comments really struck me during the press conference. First, it was said that Google’s conduct had essentially reduced innovation. If ... A few thoughts on the European Commission decision against Google
The European Commission’s Regrettable June 27 Google Antitrust Decision – and Its Broader Implications
Today I published an article in The Daily Signal bemoaning the European Commission’s June 27 decision to fine Google $2.7 billion for engaging in procompetitive, consumer welfare-enhancing conduct. The article is reproduced below (internal hyperlinks omitted), in italics: On June 27, the European Commission—Europe’s antitrust enforcer—fined Google over $2.7 billion for a supposed violation of ... The European Commission’s Regrettable June 27 Google Antitrust Decision – and Its Broader Implications
Voluntary pricing restraints in the drug industry
Today, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) enters the drug pricing debate with a hearing on “The Cost of Prescription Drugs: How the Drug Delivery System Affects What Patients Pay.” By questioning the role of the drug delivery system in pricing, the hearing goes beyond the more narrow focus of recent hearings that ... Voluntary pricing restraints in the drug 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
Innovation as a shield and a club in the agribusiness mergers
People need to eat. All else equal, the more food that can be produced from an acre of land, the better off they’ll be. Of course, people want to pay as little as possible for their food to boot. At heart, the antitrust analysis of the pending agribusiness mergers requires a simple assessment of their ... Innovation as a shield and a club in the agribusiness mergers
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
Common Ownership by Institutional Investors: Beware Antitrust Overreach
The antitrust industry never sleeps – it is always hard at work seeking new business practices to scrutinize, eagerly latching on to any novel theory of anticompetitive harm that holds out the prospect of future investigations. In so doing, antitrust entrepreneurs choose, of course, to ignore Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase’s warning that “[i]f an economist ... Common Ownership by Institutional Investors: Beware Antitrust Overreach
ABA Antitrust Section Transition Report: A Respectful Critique
The American Bar Association Antitrust Section’s Presidential Transition Report (“Report”), released on January 24, provides a helpful practitioners’ perspective on the state of federal antitrust and consumer protection enforcement, and propounds a variety of useful recommendations for marginal improvements in agency practices, particularly with respect to improving enforcement transparency and reducing enforcement-related costs. It also ... ABA Antitrust Section Transition Report: A Respectful Critique
