June 19, 2015

The Good, Bad, and the Ugly of the EU’s Proposed Data Protection Regulation

Ben Sperry

Nearly all economists from across the political spectrum agree: free trade is good. Yet free trade agreements are not always the same thing as free trade. Whether we’re talking about…

Data Security & Privacy

June 15, 2015

The TCPA is a Costly Technological Anachronism

Kristian Stout

The TCPA is an Antiquated Law The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) is back in the news following a letter sent to PayPal from the Enforcement Bureau of the FCC.…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

May 26, 2015

Comments, Sharing Economy Workshop, FTC

Geoffrey A. Manne & Berin Szoka

"We commend the Federal Trade Commission for holding this workshop, and for its recent advocacy of ride-sharing services like Uber, Lyft and Sidecar with transportation regulators in the District of Columbia, Chicago, Colorado and Alaska..."

Innovation & The New Economy

May 2, 2015

Microsoft’s mobile innovation today undercuts arguments built on yesterday’s Microsoft antitrust case

Geoffrey A. Manne

Last year, Microsoft’s new CEO, Satya Nadella, seemed to break with the company’s longstanding “complain instead of compete” strategy to acknowledge that: We’re going to innovate with a challenger mindset….…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

April 24, 2015

Comments, Operation and Cert. of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, FAA

Geoffrey A. Manne & Ben Sperry & Berin Szoka & Tom Struble

"We believe the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has failed to appropriately weigh the costs and benefits, as well as the First Amendment implications, of its proposed rules for the Operation and Certification of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)..."

Innovation & The New Economy

August 28, 2014

Intellectual Property, Innovation and Economic Growth: Mercatus Gets it Wrong

Adam Mossoff

[Cross posted at the CPIP Blog.] By Mark Schultz & Adam Mossoff A handful of increasingly noisy critics of intellectual property (IP) have emerged within free market organizations. Both the…

Intellectual Property

August 13, 2014

Teslas’s New Patent Policy: Long Live the Patent System!

Adam Mossoff

[First posted to the CPIP Blog on June 17, 2014] Last Thursday, Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of Tesla Motors, issued an announcement on the company’s blog with a…

Intellectual Property

June 26, 2014

Permissionless innovation does not mean “no contracts required”

Geoffrey A. Manne

UPDATE: I’ve been reliably informed that Vint Cerf coined the term “permissionless innovation,” and, thus, that he did so with the sorts of private impediments discussed below in mind rather…

Financial Regulation

June 19, 2014

Replacing the economic absurdity of New Jersey's direct sales ban with a callous reward for rent-seeking

Geoffrey A. Manne

Earlier this week the New Jersey Assembly unanimously passed a bill to allow direct sales of Tesla cars in New Jersey. (H/T Marina Lao). The bill Allows a manufacturer (“franchisor,” as defined in P.L.1985,…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection