Showing archive for: “Health Care”
Commentary: In the race for a COVID-19 vaccine, how do we balance risk and safety?
(Ed. Note: the following is an excerpt from a piece published by the Chicago Tribune on Oct. 16, 2020. Click here to read the full piece) No matter your Twitter feed, “vaccines have been one of the greatest public health tools to prevent disease,” as The New York Times explained in January… Many are terrified ... Commentary: In the race for a COVID-19 vaccine, how do we balance risk and safety?
The Antitrust Case Against Google’s Adtech Business, Explained
This week the Senate will hold a hearing into potential anticompetitive conduct by Google in its display advertising business—the “stack” of products that it offers to advertisers seeking to place display ads on third-party websites. It is also widely reported that the Department of Justice is preparing a lawsuit against Google that will likely include ... The Antitrust Case Against Google’s Adtech Business, Explained
Big Tech and the Parable of the Broken Window
A boy throws a brick through a bakeshop window. He flees and is never identified. The townspeople gather around the broken glass. “Well,” one of them says to the furious baker, “at least this will generate some business for the windowmaker!” A reasonable statement? Not really. Although it is indeed a good day for the ... Big Tech and the Parable of the Broken Window
Institutional weakness and the fight against Covid-19 in Peru
Peru’s response to the pandemic has been one of the most radical in Latin America: Restrictions were imposed sooner, lasted longer and were among the strictest in the region. Peru went into lockdown on March 15 after only 71 cases had been reported. Along with the usual restrictions (temporary restaurant and school closures), the Peruvian ... Institutional weakness and the fight against Covid-19 in Peru
The Furman Report is a Flimsy Basis for a New UK Competition Policy
Earlier this year the UK government announced it was adopting the main recommendations of the Furman Report into competition in digital markets and setting up a “Digital Markets Taskforce” to oversee those recommendations being put into practice. The Competition and Markets Authority’s digital advertising market study largely came to similar conclusions (indeed, in places it ... The Furman Report is a Flimsy Basis for a New UK Competition Policy
In Defense of Usage-Based Billing
In the face of an unprecedented surge of demand for bandwidth as Americans responded to COVID-19, the nation’s Internet infrastructure delivered for urban and rural users alike. In fact, since the crisis began in March, there has been no appreciable degradation in either the quality or availability of service. That success story is as much ... In Defense of Usage-Based Billing
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?
We Need to Talk About Privacy Absolutism
Privacy absolutism is the misguided belief that protecting citizens’ privacy supersedes all other policy goals, especially economic ones. This is a mistake. Privacy is one value among many, not an end in itself. Unfortunately, the absolutist worldview has filtered into policymaking and is beginning to have very real consequences. Readers need look no further than ... We Need to Talk About Privacy Absolutism
Rebuilding Trust in Coronaworld
Governments are beginning to lift the lockdowns they imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19. That is a good thing. But simply lifting the restrictions won’t immediately take us back to normality. For that to happen requires a massive investment in mechanisms that will rebuild trust. Prior to COVID-19, people implicitly trusted that travelling on ... Rebuilding Trust in Coronaworld
Congress Considers Privacy in the Context of COVID-19 and Gets it All Wrong
The COVID-19 crisis has recast virtually every contemporary policy debate in the context of public health, and digital privacy is no exception. Conversations that once focused on the value and manner of tracking to enable behavioral advertising have shifted. Congress, on the heels of years of false-starts and failed efforts to introduce nationwide standards, is ... Congress Considers Privacy in the Context of COVID-19 and Gets it All Wrong
Politics Has No Place in Antitrust Enforcement, Left or Right
The goal of US antitrust law is to ensure that competition continues to produce positive results for consumers and the economy in general. We published a letter co-signed by twenty three of the U.S.’s leading economists, legal scholars and practitioners, including one winner of the Nobel Prize in economics (full list of signatories here), to ... Politics Has No Place in Antitrust Enforcement, Left or Right
Uber/Grubhub: Pandemic Profiteering, Merger Moratoriums, and Rising Concentration … Or Not
Earlier this week, merger talks between Uber and food delivery service Grubhub surfaced. House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David N. Cicilline quickly reacted to the news: Americans are struggling to put food on the table, and locally owned businesses are doing everything possible to keep serving people in our communities, even under great duress. Uber is ... Uber/Grubhub: Pandemic Profiteering, Merger Moratoriums, and Rising Concentration … Or Not
