The Role of the State

In new research exploiting state-level changes in non-compete enforceability, Kate Reinmuth and Emma Rockall find that stronger non-competes have historically reduced innovation in the United States. These declines are driven by sharp drops in inventor mobility and knowledge spillovers, especially in young, high-growth sectors.

In new research, Martin Schmalz and Jin Xie examine how shareholder preferences influence the United States pharmaceutical industry. They find that generic-drug manufacturers sometimes harm their firms’ own value when doing so benefits shareholder portfolios, who frequently have stakes in competing brand-name firms.

China has enacted a new competition policy that seeks to boost innovation by stifling cutthroat price competition. Padding companies’ margins will enable collusion and regulatory capture rather than innovation, write Victor Jiawei Zhang and Yahui Song.

Online degrees are reshaping higher education by lowering tuition prices and reducing in-person program availability. In new research, Nano Barahona, Cauê Dobbin, and Sebastián Otero find that Brazil’s high online enrollment benefits those who need cheaper and more flexible options, but ultimately hurts young undergraduate students who are shifting away from higher-value in-person education options.

Matt Lucky reviews Jonathan D. Cohen’s new book, Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling.

In new research, John M. Barrios and Inna Abramova show how private equity’s rising involvement in accounting and other professions is concentrating markets and breaking down barriers to conflicts of interest.

Richard Wolfram explores the regulatory concerns of Netflix and Paramount’s competing merger proposals for Warner Bros. Discovery. Based on current antitrust doctrine and guidelines, Paramount would appear to face comparatively fewer barriers to the transaction, but the analysis is hardly black-and-white.

In new research, Sureyya Burcu Avci, Cindy Schipani, and H. Nejat Seyhun assess and justify the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s failed attempts to regulate potential fraud and deception in the private equity market by examining the performance and potential conflicts-of-interest in de-SPAC transactions.

Matt Lucky reviews Dani Rodrik’s new book, “Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World: A New Economics for the Middle Class, the Global Poor, and Our Climate”

Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater recently gave a speech repudiating the laissez-faire antitrust enforcement policy of past administrations. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has ordered antitrust agencies to investigate how price-fixing has raised food prices. If the administration is serious about bringing food prices down for Americans, it should begin by addressing the costs farmers face. For that reason, Slater should investigate and possibly challenge the mergers between large seed sellers that occurred during Trump’s first term in office, writes Peter Carstensen.