July 18, 2018

THE EU’S GOOGLE ANDROID ANTITRUST DECISION FALLS PREY TO THE NIRVANA FALLACY

Geoffrey A. Manne
It is sometimes said that the most important question in all of economics is “compared to what?” UCLA economist Harold Demsetz — one of the most important regulatory economists of the past century — coined the term “nirvana fallacy” to critique would-be regulators’ tendency to compare messy, real-world economic circumstances to idealized alternatives, and to justify policies on the basis of the discrepancy between them. Wishful thinking, in other words.
Antitrust & Consumer Protection
July 15, 2018

THE THEORY OF ABUSE IN GOOGLE SEARCH

Pinar Akman
In its investigation into Google’s search practices, Google Search, the Commission alleges that Google abuses its dominant position on the web search market by giving systematic favourable treatment to its “comparison shopping product” (namely, “Google Shopping”) in its general search results pages.
Antitrust & Consumer Protection
July 15, 2018

Fine is Only One Click Away

Aurelien Portuese
In a US Senate Hearing in 2011, Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, stated that ‘competition is only one click away’. On 27 June 2017, the European Commission fined Google €2.42 billion for allegedly ‘abusing dominance as search engine by giving illegal advantage to own comparison shopping service’. Ruthlessly, a fine is only one click away too.
Antitrust & Consumer Protection
July 11, 2018

Have We Exceeded the Limits of Antitrust?

icle
This annual international competition law conference is co-hosted by ICLE and the Centre for Business Law and Practice at the University of Leeds, UK. The purpose of the event is to provide a platform for scholars, regulators, and practitioners from both sides of the Atlantic to exchange views and develop their thinking on important aspects of competition law.
Antitrust & Consumer Protection