The Role of the State

The following is an excerpt from the book Law, Development and Regulatory Globalisation The Case of the World Bank in India's Electricity Sector, by Adithya Chintapanti.

ProMarket Student Editor Surya Gowda speaks with Georgetown University postdoctoral fellow Katie J. Wells about her new book with Kafui Attoh and Declan Cullen, Disrupting D.C.: The Rise of Uber and the Fall of the City. Wells discusses how Uber stepped in to solve local government failures, but introduced new problems in the process.

Eric A. Posner argues that merger review would benefit from involving union representatives to protect labor interests.

Gus Hurwitz replies to Jonathan Masur and Eric Posner’s May 8 article defending the Federal Trade Commission’s Congressional mandate to enforce a rule banning noncompetes. He argues that Congressional responses to FTC rulemaking in the 1970s suggest courts are unlikely to find that the FTC possesses such authority, either as a matter of statutory interpretation or under the major questions doctrine.

In a new paper, Sebastian Edwards details the numerous and varied contributions of University of Chicago faculty to exchange rates and monetary policy from 1892 to 1992.

Drawing on their research, John Kwoka and Tommaso Valletti refute criticisms of the Department of Justice’s lawsuit to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster that argue such actions irreparably ruin the operations of the constituent firms. The authors highlight the many examples of successful breakups and conclude that only a breakup will now repair the market for live entertainment.

Max von Thun writes that Enrico Letta, Mario Draghi, and Emmanuel Macron are right in demanding a new economic vision for the European Union. However, they are wrong to advocate for corporate consolidation as part of the solution. The EU must pursue competition rather than consolidation if it is to create a robust political economy that can take back power from corporate behemoths, deliver growth and jobs to European citizens, and guarantee the future of the European project.

Hamid Mehran discusses the recent report on sexual harassment and misconduct at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, highlighting the potential negative impact on financial stability due to the departure of experienced examiners and supervisors. Mehran suggests adopting a clawback scheme in employment contracts for senior employees to foster a healthier work environment and protect the FDIC's most valuable asset, its human talent.

Travis St. Clair outlines how fiscal problems at the local level often stem from short-term fiscal and electoral incentives as well as voters’ limited attention. He reviews potential solutions to improve the financial transparency and long-term planning of local governments.

The following is a transcript of Randy Picker's conversation with Tim Wu on how antitrust shaped competition and innovation in computers and chips, held at the 2024 Stigler Center Antitrust and Competition Conference.