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TOTM A Senate panel approved the Leegin Bill on a voice vote (HT: Main Justice). The story behind the link suggests that there is some Republican . . .
A Senate panel approved the Leegin Bill on a voice vote (HT: Main Justice). The story behind the link suggests that there is some Republican opposition brewing. I suspect there will be hearings. The Bill’s findings make the following two observations…
Read the full piece here.
TOTM Bill Northey, IA Ag Sec’y, sounds a bit like an economist (ah, turns out he has a degree in ag business and an MBA . . . .
Bill Northey, IA Ag Sec’y, sounds a bit like an economist (ah, turns out he has a degree in ag business and an MBA . . . ). Yes, price of seeds has gone up, but so has yield, and so has overall value. The issue, he says, is how to divide the surplus, and he suggests that it’s dividing the pie that drives farmer concerns. That’s not at all a surprise, but it’s also not much of an antitrust issue. Unless the pie could be bigger absent, say, Monsanto’s huge investment in seeds and the resulting relatively-concentrated market structure (and basing enforcement on the theoretical possibility of that counter-factual is a perilous enterprise, as Josh and I have suggested many times), this is just a question of pecuniary transfers. Sure, they matter a lot to the parties involved and there’s always an incentive to deputize the government to put a thumb on the scale of that dispute, but that’s not a matter of allocative efficiency, and not a matter for the antitrust laws.
TOTM It turns out that the Girl Scouts price discriminate, i.e. they charge different prices for the same product in different parts of the country (HT: . . .
It turns out that the Girl Scouts price discriminate, i.e. they charge different prices for the same product in different parts of the country (HT: Knowledge Problem). Rumor has it that demand for Thin Mints varies by region. While the Girl Scouts concede that the introduction of the price discrimination scheme results, when coupled with Girl Scout marketing efforts, is tantamount to the evading pricing constraints imposed by current demand conditions. No word on whether the Girl Scouts have hired antitrust counsel in light of the Commission’s pushing of this definition of actionable antitrust conduct in N-Data and Ovation (amongst other cases).
TOTM Today, the Commission announced a consent decree with Transitions Optical in an exclusionary conduct case. Here’s the FTC description… Read the full piece here.
Today, the Commission announced a consent decree with Transitions Optical in an exclusionary conduct case. Here’s the FTC description…
Scholarship Abstract This essay criticizes the Federal Trade Commission’s defense of its use Section 5 of the FTC Act in the Intel case. The FTC’s (and . . .
This essay criticizes the Federal Trade Commission’s defense of its use Section 5 of the FTC Act in the Intel case. The FTC’s (and particularly Chairman Leibowitz’) claims that the error cost concerns that figure prominently in recent Supreme Court Sherman Act cases ought not to apply, and are not intended to apply, to government enforcers are misguided and dangerous.
TOTM The subject of antitrust exemptions has been an oft-discussed topic here at TOTM (see, e.g. here and here). In the latter of those two links . . .
The subject of antitrust exemptions has been an oft-discussed topic here at TOTM (see, e.g. here and here). In the latter of those two links I was somewhat critical of the DOJ for taking a neutral stance on the insurance industry exemption, which has now become rather wrapped up in the health care reform debate. I wrote…
TOTM Repeating claims he made in his statement in Intel, Chairman Leibowitz in a recent interview in the Wall Street Journal has this to say about . . .
Repeating claims he made in his statement in Intel, Chairman Leibowitz in a recent interview in the Wall Street Journal has this to say about stepped-up Section 5 enforcement at the FTC…
TOTM Geoff recently highlighted AAG Christine Varney’s closing remarks at the Horizontal Merger Guidelines workshop and was fairly critical. Thom intervened to suggest that we at . . .
Geoff recently highlighted AAG Christine Varney’s closing remarks at the Horizontal Merger Guidelines workshop and was fairly critical. Thom intervened to suggest that we at TOTM, while fairly critical of the agencies from time to time, also give credit where it is due — highlighting AAG Varney’s RPM article. OK, that’s enough credit for now.
TOTM Tomorrow I will be presenting my paper, A Decision-Theoretic Rule of Reason for Minimum Resale Price Maintenance, at the Next Generation of Antitrust Scholarship Conference . . .
Tomorrow I will be presenting my paper, A Decision-Theoretic Rule of Reason for Minimum Resale Price Maintenance, at the Next Generation of Antitrust Scholarship Conference at NYU Law School. (Kudos to Danny Sokol for co-organizing what promises to be a terrific event!) My paper criticizes four proposed approaches to evaluating RPM post-Leegin, and it sets forth an alternative approach that embodies the sort of error cost analysis Geoff and Josh have embraced in connection with monopolization doctrine. The paper largely builds on my recent William & Mary Law Review article on RPM, expanding the analysis to address recent developments in the caselaw and antitrust scholarship (e.g., I address the pending Babies-R-Us case).
