Brian Albrecht and Gus Hurwitz on Chrome Divestiture
ICLE Chief Economist Brian Albrecht and Director of Law & Economics Programs Gus Hurwitz were both quoted by The Dispatch in an item about the U.S. Justice Department seeking the breakup of Google and Chrome as part of its antitrust case against the company. You can read the full piece here.
As part of the antitrust case it won against Google, the Department of Justice is calling for Google to sell off its Chrome browser. I wrote about the case in August. I think the DOJ’s move is a foolhardy one and agree with law professor Gus Hurwitz, who said, “This is the sort of remedy that lawyers who don’t know, or particularly care, about the complexities of running a business or encouraging innovation think is easy to implement.” The DOJ, in part, won its case against Google because behavioral economics has shown that “defaults have a powerful impact on consumer decisions.” But in the past couple of years, a steady stream of research has been altering that consensus. This thread by economist Brian Albrecht explores that shifting perspective.