June 26, 2018

Dear Antitrusters: Bias Is Ubiquitous. Stick to the Merits.

Thomas Lambert

A recent tweet by Lina Khan, discussing yesterday’s American Express decision, exemplifies an unfortunate trend in contemporary antitrust discourse.  Khan wrote: The economists cited by the Second Circuit (whose opinion SCOTUS affirms) for the…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

June 18, 2018

Will the European Commission Reduce the Incentive to Innovate?

Kristian Stout

The EC’s Android decision is expected sometime in the next couple of weeks. Current speculation is that the EC may issue a fine exceeding last year’s huge 2.4B EU fine for Google’s alleged antitrust violations related to the display of general search results.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

June 12, 2018

AT&T-Time Warner merger approved

Eric Fruits

AT&T’s merger with Time Warner has lead to one of the most important, but least interesting, antitrust trials in recent history. It’s about a close to a “pure” vertical merger as we can get in today’s world and would not lead to a measurable increase in prices paid by consumers.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

June 11, 2018

More on a possible Comcast/Fox deal

Geoffrey A. Manne

In brief, Delrahim spent virtually the entirety of his short remarks making and remaking the fundamental point at the center of my own assessment of the antitrust risk of a possible Comcast/Fox deal: The DOJ’s challenge of the AT&T/Time Warner merger tells you nothing about the likelihood that the agency would challenge a Comcast/Fox merger.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

June 4, 2018

Chevron and the Politicization of Law (or, Chevron Step Three)

Gus Hurwitz

A recent exchange between Chris Walker and Philip Hamburger about Walker’s ongoing empirical work on the Chevron doctrine (the idea that judges must defer to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes) gives me a long-sought opportunity…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

May 23, 2018

ICLE analysis finds low antitrust risk in Comcast’s purchase of Fox assets — especially relative to Disney’s

Geoffrey A. Manne

As has been rumored in the press for a few weeks, Comcast announced today that it is considering a renewed bid for a large chunk of Twenty-First Century Fox’s (Fox) assets. In December 2017, Fox’s board rejected a bid from Comcast that was some 16% higher than the one it ultimately accepted from Disney.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

May 11, 2018

The Tariff Act is indeed protectionist — and that’s how Congress wants it

Geoffrey A. Manne & Kristian Stout

Although not always front page news, International Trade Commission (“ITC”) decisions can have major impacts on trade policy and antitrust law. Scott Kieff, a former ITC Commissioner, recently published a thoughtful analysis…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

May 3, 2018

The Real Reason Foundem Foundered

Geoffrey A. Manne

A pair of recent, long-form articles in the New York Times Magazine and Wired UK — the latest in a virtual journalistic cottage industry of such articles — chronicle the downfall of British price comparison site and stalwart Google provocateur, Foundem, and attribute its demise to anticompetitive behavior on the part of Google.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

May 1, 2018

Amazon and the Unwisdom of the Populist Crowd

Kristian Stout

There are some who view a host of claimed negative social ills allegedly related to the large size of firms like Amazon as an occasion to call for the company’s break…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection