March 26, 2012

DOJ’s Latest on Apple Investigation

Joshua Wright

From the WSJ: Publishers argue that the agency model promotes competition by allowing more booksellers to thrive. They say Amazon had sold e-books below cost and that agency pricing saved…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

March 15, 2012

The Apple E-Book Kerfuffle Meets Alfred Marshall’s Principles of Economics

Joshua Wright

From a pure antitrust perspective, the real story behind the DOJ’s Apple e-book investigation is the Division’s deep commitment to the view that Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) clauses are anticompetitive (see also…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

February 1, 2012

Wright v. Rule at Columbia Law on Google and Antitrust

Joshua Wright

Charles (“Rick”) Rule, who represents Microsoft and is the head of the antitrust practice at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, and I had an opportunity to debate the various antitrust…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

February 1, 2012

Competition for the Field on the Internet

Joshua Wright

Keith Woolcock (Time Business) offers an interesting perspective on what economists would describe as “competition for the field” between Apple, Facebook, Google, and Facebook.  It gives a good sense of…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

January 12, 2012

Fed should stay out of Google/Twitter social search spat

Geoffrey A. Manne

As has become customary with just about every new product announcement by Google these days, the company’s introduction on Tuesday of its new “Search, plus Your World” (SPYW) program, which…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

January 1, 2012

If Search Neutrality Is the Answer, What's the Question?

Geoffrey A. Manne & Joshua Wright

In recent months a veritable legal and policy frenzy has erupted around Google generally, and more specifically concerning how its search activities should be regulated by government authorities throughout the world in the name of ensuring “search neutrality.”

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

December 20, 2011

Some Much-Needed Antitrust Skepticism on Senate Letter Urging FTC Google Investigation

Geoffrey A. Manne

Back in September, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee held a hearing on “The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition?” Given the harsh questioning from the Subcommittee’s Chairman ...

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

December 9, 2011

Is Google Search Bias Consistent with Anticompetitive Foreclosure?

Joshua Wright

In my series of three posts (here, here and here) drawn from my empirical study on search bias I have examined whether search bias exists, and, if so, how frequently…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

November 28, 2011

In re Pool Corporation: Yet Another Peculiar and Peverse Section 5 Consent from the FTC

Joshua Wright

TOTM readers know that I’ve long been skeptical of claims that expansive use of Section 5 of the FTC Act will prove productive for consumers.  I’ve been critical of recent…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection