Showing archive for: “Microeconomics: Production Market Structure & Pricing”
Antitrust at the Agencies: Pour One Out for Southern Glazer’s
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has settled a wine-and-spirits case, and its press release reads like a victory toast. The two commissioners who approved the deal write as if they’d rather send the bottle back. Consumers might want to check the tab. The settlement in Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits landed just after I’d put ... Antitrust at the Agencies: Pour One Out for Southern Glazer’s
The Garden State’s War on the Good Deal
New Jersey lawmakers have found a way to spare small grocers the sting of missing out on a discount: make suppliers think twice about offering one to anybody. If a cereal maker gives Walmart a better deal than a corner market in Newark, a bill before the state’s General Assembly would require the supplier to ... The Garden State’s War on the Good Deal
No Free Ride: Uber’s African Retreat
First, “Uber” became a verb. Now, in parts of Africa, it is becoming past tense. The company’s withdrawal from Nigeria and Uganda complicates one of competition policy’s favorite storylines: U.S. technology platforms enter, conquer, and never leave. That assumption has helped fuel a rush to import rules modeled on the European Union’s Digital Markets Act ... No Free Ride: Uber’s African Retreat
Paramount’s Mission: Impossible Antitrust Case
Hollywood loves a sequel, and the antitrust fight over Paramount Skydance’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is becoming one. First came the familiar streaming-monopoly scare. Now comes the more personal version: the writers, drivers, and actors who make the movies fear that a combined studio will need far fewer of them—and ... Paramount’s Mission: Impossible Antitrust Case
The Paramount Question Isn’t Paramount
Big mergers make headlines. They don’t always make antitrust problems. In a previous commentary, I explored the antitrust implications of a potential acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). That uncertainty is now resolved. On Feb. 27, Paramount Skydance Corp. agreed to acquire WBD for roughly $110 billion in enterprise value—$31 per share, all cash. The ... The Paramount Question Isn’t Paramount
AI Training Is Not Fair (According to One Court)
The concept of transformative use has emerged as a pivotal issue in fair-use analysis, particularly in cases that involve training data for artificial intelligence (AI). At its core, the transformative-use inquiry asks whether the new work repurposes original material to serve a markedly different function or market than that of the copyrighted work. In this ... AI Training Is Not Fair (According to One Court)
Fair use’s fatal conceit
My colleague, Neil Turkewitz, begins his fine post for Fair Use Week (read: crashing Fair Use Week) by noting that Many of the organizations celebrating fair use would have you believe, because it suits their analysis, that copyright protection and the public interest are diametrically opposed. This is merely a rhetorical device, and is a ... Fair use’s fatal conceit
Stan Liebowitz on Piracy and Music Sales
Stan Liebowitz (UT-Dallas) offers a characteristically thoughtful and provocative op-ed in the WSJ today commenting on SOPA and the Protect IP Act. Here’s an excerpt: You may have noticed last Wednesday’s blackout of Wikipedia or Google’s strange blindfolded-logo screen. These were attempts to kill the Protect IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act, proposed ... Stan Liebowitz on Piracy and Music Sales
Is Apple Dumb?
The Economist seems to think so, relying on evidence from this new paper by Joel Waldfogel and Ben Shiller. Waldfogel and Shiller find that, relative to uniform pricing at $.99, alternative pricing schemes including two part tariffs and various bundling schemes could raise producer surplus by somewhere between 17 and 30 percent. Those are large ... Is Apple Dumb?
Is free Radiohead a substitute for expensive Radiohead?
I’d have to say the answer is yes (duh). Radiohead’s In Rainbows made a stunning “official”debut, coming out at number 1 on the Billboard chart with 122,000 US sales in the first week. But Radiohead’s last album, Hail to the Thief, debuted at number 3, selling 300,000 copies in its first week. The band must ... Is free Radiohead a substitute for expensive Radiohead?
Radiohead results
The results are in: Radiohead did . . . ok. Before I share the specifics, let me remind you of what one seemingly prescient prognosticator said a few weeks ago: My prediction: They will receive an average price of $2 and a median price of $0.  So what happened? Of those who downloaded Radiohead’s digital ... Radiohead results
Yet Another Voluntary Pricing Experiment
This time from Paste Magazine (HT: Peter Schwartz via Wired Blog Magazine), and motivated by the Radiohead Experiment, and with an interesting twist: Subscribers who choose to pay more than the normal $19.95 asking price will have their names printed in an upcoming issue of the magazine, but the entire year-long subscription can in fact ... Yet Another Voluntary Pricing Experiment
