Scholarship Archives - International Center for Law & Economics

March 28, 2019

Amazon is not essential, except to the EU’s flawed investigations

Kristian Stout & Geoffrey A. Manne

Amazon has largely avoided the crosshairs of antitrust enforcers to date (leaving aside the embarrassing dangerous threats of arbitrary enforcement by some US presidential candidates). The reasons seem obvious: in the US it handles a mere 5% of all retail sales (with lower shares in the EU), and it consistently provides access to a wide array of affordable goods.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

March 25, 2019

Is European Competition Law Protectionist? Unpacking the Commission’s Unflattering Track record

Dirk Auer & Geoffrey A. Manne

Last month, the European Commission slapped another fine upon Google for infringing European competition rules (€1.49 billion this time). This brings Google’s contribution to the EU budget to a dizzying total of €8.25 billion (to put this into perspective, the total EU budget for 2019 is €165.8 billion).

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

February 1, 2019

STRUCTURALIST INNOVATION: A SHAKY LEGAL PRESUMPTION IN NEED OF AN OVERHAUL

Dirk Auer

How does a market’s structure affect innovation? This crucial question has occupied the world’s brightest economists for almost a century, from Schumpeter who found that monopoly was optimal, through Arrow who concluded that competitive market structures were key, to the endogenous growth scholars who empirically derived an inverted-U relationship between market concentration and innovation.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

January 1, 2019

When “Reasonable” Isn’t: The FTC’s Standard-less Data Security Standard

Kristian Stout & Geoffrey A. Manne

Although the FTC is well-staffed with highly skilled economists, its approach to data security is disappointingly light on economic analysis. The unfortunate result of this lacuna is an approach to these complex issues lacking in analytical rigor and the humility borne of analysis grounded in sound economics.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

December 19, 2018

Antitrust Out of Focus: The FTC Misses the Mark In Dogged Pursuit of 1-800’s Trademark Settlements

Geoffrey A. Manne & Joshua Wright & Hal Singer

On November 14, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (“Commission”) issued an opinion condemning as an antitrust violation trademark settlement agreements between 1-800 Contacts (“1-800”) and fourteen online sellers of contact lenses.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

October 30, 2018

The Case for an Innovation Principle: A Comparative Law and Economics Analysis

Aurelien Portuese

After the rise of the precautionary principle (or approach) in the late 1990s in a number of jurisdictions, the economic consequences of this newly created principle of law have unfolded.

Innovation & The New Economy

October 3, 2018

Vapor products, harm reduction, and taxation: Principles, evidence, and a research agenda

Eric Fruits

ICLE has released a white paper entitled Vapor products, harm reduction, and taxation: Principles, evidence and a research agenda, authored by ICLE Chief Economist, Eric Fruits.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

July 18, 2018

Schrepel - The European Commission Is Undermining Innovation

Thibault Schrepel

This article introduces an empirical study conducted over the period 2004 to 2018 (Android included) on all the fines imposed by the European Commission on the basis of Article 102 TFEU. We show that the European Commission’s decisions may have the effect of slowing down R&D for numerous sanctioned companies.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

July 15, 2018

Fine is Only One Click Away

Aurelien Portuese

In a US Senate Hearing in 2011, Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, stated that ‘competition is only one click away’. On 27 June 2017, the European Commission fined Google €2.42 billion for allegedly ‘abusing dominance as search engine by giving illegal advantage to own comparison shopping service’. Ruthlessly, a fine is only one click away too.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

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