The Minnesota Senate Commerce Committee last week passed SF 1598, the Digital Fair Repair Bill. The bill from Sen. Rob Kupec, DFL-Moorhead, would require manufacturers to provide independent repair companies access to relevant repair information.

Read the full piece here.

ICLE Chief Economist Brian Albrecht was a guest on The Hub Dialogues podcast to discuss the utility of economic theory, reasons to be skeptical about sweeping policy reforms, and lessons for young economists about using social media to present their ideas, engage experts, and learn. The full episode is embedded below.

ICLE Chief Economist Brian Albrecht joined the Cato Daily Podcast to discuss non?compete agreements in labor markets: why they exist, how they work, and the Federal Trade Commission’s proposal to ban them. The full episode is embedded below.

ICLE Chief Economist Brian Albrecht was a guest on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin podcast to discuss new rules proposed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ban workplace noncompete agreements. The full episode is embedded below.

Under a recently proposed rule, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would ban the use of noncompete terms in employment agreements nationwide. Noncompetes are contracts that workers sign saying they agree to not work for the employer’s competitors for a certain period. The FTC’s rule would be a major policy change, regulating future contracts and retroactively voiding current ones. With limited exceptions, it would cover everyone in the United States.

Read the full piece here.

Abstract

The competitive market is informationally efficient; people only need to know prices to implement a competitive allocation. However, the standard formulation of competitive markets assumes that prices are not set by strategic agents but by “supply and demand” and thus neglects the underlying role of market microstructure. We show that if prices are determined by strategic agents, then intermediation is necessary for markets to achieve informational efficiency. We study two specific market microstructures: a model where trade is intermediated by market-makers and a model of random matching and bargaining. First, we show that an economy where competition among market-makers determines prices can approximate the informational efficiency of the competitive model. Second, we show that as the complexity of the economy increases, matching markets require infinitely more information than the competitive market.

The U.S. economy has a new labor regulator. Under a just-unveiled proposed rule, the Federal Trade Commission would ban the use of noncompete terms in employment agreements nationwide.

Read the full piece here.

ICLE Chief Economist Brian Albrecht gave a presentation to the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics discussing the 2022 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, which was awarded to Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond, Philip H. Dybvig “for research on banks and financial crises.” In this talk, he explored the recipients’ backgrounds and contributions to the practice of economics.

Video of the presentation is embedded below.

ICLE Chief Economist Brian Albrecht was a guest on the Mornings with Brian Haldane show on Talk 107.3 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to discuss the Federal Trade Commission’s challenge to Facebook parent Meta’s proposed acquisition of virtual-reality app-maker Within. The full interview is embedded below.

https://laweconcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Mornings-with-Brian-Haldane-Brian-Albrecht-01-09-2023-Tal.mp3