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Geoffrey Manne joined KCRW’s To the Point podcast to discuss Amazon and the retail revolution. The full episode is embedded below.
TOTM Regardless of the merits and soundness (or lack thereof) of this week’s European Commission Decision in the Google Shopping case — one cannot assess this . . .
Regardless of the merits and soundness (or lack thereof) of this week’s European Commission Decision in the Google Shopping case — one cannot assess this until we have the text of the decision — two comments really struck me during the press conference.
Read the full piece here.
ICLE White Paper The agriculture sector has seen significant technological innovation and organizational change over the last two decades, leading to increases in both farm productivity and profitability.
The agriculture sector has seen significant technological innovation and organizational change over the last two decades, leading to increases in both farm productivity and profitability. These scientific breakthroughs, most notably in crop protection science biotech seed traits and precision farming, were the result of substantial research and development (“R&D”) investment. Further, these technological breakthroughs were accompanied by organizational changes — e.g., increasing vertical and horizontal collaboration — that have enabled an increasingly complex industry to productively implement them.
In recent years the need to innovate has only increased. As technology in the sector continues to evolve, companies are increasingly adapting with structural changes to enable more effective R&D. These adaptations include increased collaboration between companies and, at times, integration of firms through mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”). This M&A activity has harmed neither competition, innovation, or investment by new entrants. In fact, combining businesses with complementary R&D has spurred innovation and accelerated the development and deployment of new products, one of the primary goals of the antitrust laws. Advances in biotechnology, crop protection science, and AgTech have provided farmers with increasingly sophisticated tools to meet the challenges of increasing demand for food and diminishing natural resources. Far from harming innovation, M&A activity in the agriculture industry has been accompanied by tremendous increases in R&D spending by existing and new companies and enhanced agricultural productivity.
Criticisms of agricultural industry M&A activity — and to the current, proposed Bayer-Monsanto and Dow-DuPont mergers in particular — are based on one or more of several common misconceptions about the industry, innovation, competition, and the deals themselves. This paper identifies and responds to several of those misconceptions, focusing in particular on the claims raised in a 2016 working paper produced by the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University, entitled Effects of Proposed Mergers and Acquisitions Among Biotechnology Firms on Seed Prices (“Texas A&M Report” or “Report”).1 Fundamentally, the Texas A&M Report incorporates flawed or incomplete antitrust law and economics in its condemnation of the pending mergers by alleging likely harms without considering their likely countervailing and procompetitive benefits. Further, the potential harms alleged are premised on unsound or outdated economic theory, or rooted in inconsistent or inaccurate characterizations of the deals, the industry, and its competitive dynamics. The Report’s substantial flaws make it an unsuitable guide to proper antitrust policy regarding the proposed deals.
Presentations & Interviews Summary As the internet economy matures, antitrust regulators around the world have increasingly turned their sights on internet companies. However, the dynamic nature of online . . .
As the internet economy matures, antitrust regulators around the world have increasingly turned their sights on internet companies. However, the dynamic nature of online competition — with low barriers to entry, a heavy reliance on data-driven innovation, and the interlinked nature of multi-sided markets — calls into question some common assumptions of antitrust law and merits a more sophisticated analysis of market competitiveness. In this event, participants will examine such themes as the competitive significance of data, considerations in the analysis of multi-sided markets, and the nature of platform competition.
The event featured:
TOTM According to Cory Doctorow over at Boing Boing, Tim Wu has written an open letter to W3C Chairman Sir Timothy Berners-Lee, expressing concern about a proposal . . .
According to Cory Doctorow over at Boing Boing, Tim Wu has written an open letter to W3C Chairman Sir Timothy Berners-Lee, expressing concern about a proposal to include Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) as part of the W3C standards.
TOTM On Thursday, March 30, Friday March 31, and Monday April 3, Truth on the Market and the International Center for Law and Economics presented a blog symposium . . .
On Thursday, March 30, Friday March 31, and Monday April 3, Truth on the Market and the International Center for Law and Economics presented a blog symposium — Agricultural and Biotech Mergers: Implications for Antitrust Law and Economics in Innovative Industries — discussing three proposed agricultural/biotech industry mergers awaiting judgment by antitrust authorities around the globe. These proposed mergers — Bayer/Monsanto, Dow/DuPont and ChemChina/Syngenta — present a host of fascinating issues, many of which go to the core of merger enforcement in innovative industries — and antitrust law and economics more broadly.
TOTM In a recent long-form article in the New York Times, reporter Noam Scheiber set out to detail some of the ways Uber (and similar companies, . . .
In a recent long-form article in the New York Times, reporter Noam Scheiber set out to detail some of the ways Uber (and similar companies, but mainly Uber) are engaged in “an extraordinary experiment in behavioral science to subtly entice an independent work force to maximize its growth.”
TOTM People need to eat. All else equal, the more food that can be produced from an acre of land, the better off they’ll be. Of . . .
People need to eat. All else equal, the more food that can be produced from an acre of land, the better off they’ll be. Of course, people want to pay as little as possible for their food to boot. At heart, the antitrust analysis of the pending agribusiness mergers requires a simple assessment of their effects on food production and price. But making that assessment raises difficult questions about institutional competence.
TOTM The recently notified mergers in the seed and agro-chem industry raise difficult questions that competition authorities around the world would need to tackle in the . . .
The recently notified mergers in the seed and agro-chem industry raise difficult questions that competition authorities around the world would need to tackle in the following months. Because of the importance of their markets’ size, the decision reached by US and EU competition authorities would be particularly significant for the merging parties, but the perspective of a number of other competition authorities in emerging and developing economies, in particular the BRICS, will also play an important role if the transactions are to move forward.
