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Abuse of Plaintiff Win Rates as Evidence that Antitrust Law Is Too Lenient

TOTM I was recently reading Dean Chemerinsky (Irvine Law) on the Roberts Court at Age 3. One of Chemerinsky’s standard takes when he talks about the . . .

I was recently reading Dean Chemerinsky (Irvine Law) on the Roberts Court at Age 3. One of Chemerinsky’s standard takes when he talks about the Roberts Court is that the Court’s pro-business stance is one of its defining characteristics. Readers of the blog will know that I’ve been critical of Chemerinsky for his superficial antitrust commentary. For example, in this California Bar Journal piece, under the heading “Favoring Businesses over Consumers and Employees,” Chemerinsky argues that the Roberts Court antitrust decisions favored businesses over consumers by overturning Dr. Miles, “make it more difficult to sue business for antitrust violations” in Credit Suisse, and, in Twombly, made it “harder for plaintiff to get into court.”

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection

Google Yahoo Deal Update

TOTM The Wall Street Journal offers an update on the settlement talks with DOJ over the Google-Yahoo deal, which includes some interesting details about possible concessions . . .

The Wall Street Journal offers an update on the settlement talks with DOJ over the Google-Yahoo deal, which includes some interesting details about possible concessions to get the deal through…

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection

GCP on the Section 2 Report Schism

TOTM Global Competition Policy has a trio of interesting articles on the DOJ Section 2 Report, and FTC response, which I’ve blogged about here and here . . .

Global Competition Policy has a trio of interesting articles on the DOJ Section 2 Report, and FTC response, which I’ve blogged about here and here from Tim Brennan, William Kolasky and Mark Popofsky.  The abstract from Popofsky’s article gives a sense of the scope and importance of the issues here…

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection

Posner’s Definition of a “Private Sector” Response

TOTM Many observers have been shocked by the level of government involvement in the U.S. economy in recent days. Among other things, the government has (1) . . .

Many observers have been shocked by the level of government involvement in the U.S. economy in recent days. Among other things, the government has (1) bailed out an insurance company that got “too big to fail,” (2) decided to spend up to $700 billion buying the distressed assets of financial firms (and apparently directly investing in those firms), and (3) banned investors from short-selling the securities of a number of firms. Seems like a pretty massive governmental response, no?

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Financial Regulation & Corporate Governance

May Treasury Buy Newly Issued Securities of Ailing Financial Firms?

TOTM Last week I posted about Lucian Bebchuk’s thoughtful bailout plan, which would have expanded Treasury’s powers to include the ability to make direct investments in . . .

Last week I posted about Lucian Bebchuk’s thoughtful bailout plan, which would have expanded Treasury’s powers to include the ability to make direct investments in ailing financial firms (as opposed to just buying their distressed assets). I was under the impression the bailout legislation didn’t provide Treasury with such authority. An article in today’s WSJ, though, suggests otherwise.

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Financial Regulation & Corporate Governance

What Did Twombly Do Anyway?

TOTM Here is a very interesting empirical paper examining post-Twombly pleading from Martin Redish and Lee Epstein describing the state of affairs at the appellate court . . .

Here is a very interesting empirical paper examining post-Twombly pleading from Martin Redish and Lee Epstein describing the state of affairs at the appellate court level, they write…

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection

Commissioner Rosch v. Economics, Again

TOTM I’ve been critical of the Federal Trade Commission, and particularly Commissioner Rosch, for embracing what I think is a dangerously obsolete view of the role . . .

I’ve been critical of the Federal Trade Commission, and particularly Commissioner Rosch, for embracing what I think is a dangerously obsolete view of the role of economics in antitrust. First, it was the Section 2 Report response and before that, it was Commissioner Rosch’s observation that “any kind of economic analyses that require the use of mathematical formulae are of little persuasive value in the courtroom setting” and that “when I see an economic formula my eyes start to glaze over.” To be fair, Commissioner Rosch’s point is that sophisticated economic evidence is not persuasive to courts and that the FTC ought to focus on non-economic evidence that is, we are told, more effective.

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection

Armen Alchian Plays Prisoners’ Dilemma

TOTM Many economists know of the famous repeated prisoners’ dilemma experiments played by famous economists.  I recently came across this old post from Brad Delong with an . . .

Many economists know of the famous repeated prisoners’ dilemma experiments played by famous economists.  I recently came across this old post from Brad Delong with an excerpt from Poundstone (1992) which recounts a game between Armen Alchian (who should win the Nobel Prize this year) and Rand economist John Williams.

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Hazlett on Net Neutrality and Antitrust

TOTM My colleague Tom Hazlett has an interesting piece in the Financial Times chiming in on the network neutrality debate.  Hazlett makes the point that if . . .

My colleague Tom Hazlett has an interesting piece in the Financial Times chiming in on the network neutrality debate.  Hazlett makes the point that if “competitive harm” is the concern, isn’t antitrust the answer rather than regulation of this sort?

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection