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Shelf Space Payments and Retail Bargaining Power

TOTM At his new blog Management R&D, Luke Froeb writes about the strategy of downstream firms reducing capacity in order to increase competition among suppliers… Read . . .

At his new blog Management R&D, Luke Froeb writes about the strategy of downstream firms reducing capacity in order to increase competition among suppliers…

Read the full piece here

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection

Antitrust in China

TOTM It appears that China may be very close to passing its Anti-Monopoly Law (HT: Danny Sokol).  Like many others, I’ve been following these developments (see, . . .

It appears that China may be very close to passing its Anti-Monopoly Law (HT: Danny Sokol).  Like many others, I’ve been following these developments (see, e.g., the ABA’s comments on the proposed law here).  I will also be taking a trip out to China sometime later this year and so am interested in learning as much as possible about antitrust regulation in China as it occurs now as well as obstacles to its implementation under the new revised law.

Read the full piece here.

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection

This is Bad News for GMU

TOTM Wow. This is a coup for Chapman and more importantly (at least to me!), a major loss for GMU. Read the full piece here. 

Wow. This is a coup for Chapman and more importantly (at least to me!), a major loss for GMU.

Read the full piece here

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Diabetes Treatments and Moral Hazard

Scholarship Abstract In the face of rising rates of diabetes, many states have passed laws requiring health insurance plans to cover medical treatments for the disease. . . .

In the face of rising rates of diabetes, many states have passed laws requiring health insurance plans to cover medical treatments for the disease. Although supporters of the mandates expect them to improve the health of diabetics, the mandates have the potential to generate a moral hazard to the extent that medical treatments might displace individual behavioral improvements. Another possibility is that the mandates do little to improve insurance coverage for most individuals, as previous research on benefit mandates has suggested that mandates often duplicate what plans already cover. To examine the effects of these mandates, we employ a triple?differences methodology comparing the change in the gap in body mass index (BMI) between diabetics and nondiabetics in mandate and nonmandate states. We find that mandates do generate a moral hazard problem, with diabetics exhibiting higher BMIs after the adoption of these mandates.

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Antitrust News at GW Law

TOTM GW Law received a $5.1 million award to fund a Center for Competition Law resulting from the settlement of a class-action antitrust suit brought by . . .

GW Law received a $5.1 million award to fund a Center for Competition Law resulting from the settlement of a class-action antitrust suit brought by Michael Hausfield (of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C., and a GW alum).

Read the full piece here.

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection

Junk Social Science in the Medical Bankruptcy Debate

TOTM My GMU colleague Todd Zywicki and Gail Heriot (USD) have an op-ed in the Washington Times exposing Harvard Professors David Himmelstein and Elizabeth Warren’s study . . .

My GMU colleague Todd Zywicki and Gail Heriot (USD) have an op-ed in the Washington Times exposing Harvard Professors David Himmelstein and Elizabeth Warren’s study on medical debt and bankruptcy, presented to Congress earlier this week, as “one of the most misleading pieces of research ever placed before Congress” – no small dishonor.

Read the full piece here

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Financial Regulation & Corporate Governance

The EC versus Intel: The SO is issued

TOTM To no one’s great surprise (other than that it took so long), the European Commission issued a Statement of Objections against Intel today.  More information . . .

To no one’s great surprise (other than that it took so long), the European Commission issued a Statement of Objections against Intel today.  More information as it becomes available.

For those looking for a little insight into the case, you might be interested in The FTC’s 1998 Complaint against Intel and the resulting Consent Decree (the entire case file is here).

Read the full piece here.  

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection

Chicago, Post-Chicago, Post-Post-Chicago: On Using Shorthand Labels Responsibly

TOTM Over the past few weeks I’ve read at least two dozen papers, mostly by legal scholars (but some by economists) employing or critiquing economic analysis . . .

Over the past few weeks I’ve read at least two dozen papers, mostly by legal scholars (but some by economists) employing or critiquing economic analysis of law, that use the term “Chicago School,” in a critical and misleading way.  Conventionally, use of this nomenclature comes along with a claim that “Chicago School” economics is code for a particular form of non-interventionist, politically conservative philosophy based upon only an unjustified “faith” in markets.

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Antitrust & Consumer Protection

The FTC Releases its Credit-Based Insurance Scores Report

TOTM Here are a few of the key findings of the study which examined the use of credit-based scores to determine automobile insurance rates:

Available here. Here are a few of the key findings of the study which examined the use of credit-based scores to determine automobile insurance rates…

Read the full piece here.

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Financial Regulation & Corporate Governance