Monsanto loses landmark Roundup case; the Sinclair-Tribune merger blows up; Facebook wants your financial data; the historical legacy of the 2008 financial crisis; and why is the banning of Alex Jones from big tech platforms also a cause for concern?
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As every good economist knows, markets work best when they are competitive. Therefore, every good economist should also be a feminist, defending a level playing field for all genders, writes Luigi Zingales in this op-ed.
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The idea of creating transfer schemes to compensate the losers from international trade yet still preserve some of the gains faces a myriad of implementation problems. But a progressive tax system can deliver many of the same benefits, Lyon and Waugh of NYU’s Stern School argue in new research.
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The ostensive watchdogs of market disclosure have become poster boys for corporate chicanery, argues Karthik Ramanna of Oxford’s Blavatnik School.
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Apple hits the coveted $1 trillion mark—thanks to share buybacks; Senator Mark Warner’s proposals to regulate social media platforms make waves; Google is reportedly planning to launch a censored version of its search engine in China; and what’s behind the public battle between President Trump and the Koch brothers for control of the GOP?
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Two much-discussed new studies argue that market power is on the rise not only in the United States, but also around the world. Here, James Traina of the University of Chicago argues that this claim is likely an artifact of mismeasured production costs.
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In a recent review of Paul Tucker’s new book Unelected Power (extracted here for ProMarket), Diane Coyle of the University of Manchester and the consultancy Enlightenment Economics took issue with Tucker’s application of his principles of delegation of power to competition policy. Luigi Zingales, in turn, addressed her objections with the following note on her review.
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UChicago Law’s Randy Picker puzzles over the rationale behind last week’s multibillion-euro fine on Google by the European Commission. While the decision makes a statement about acceptable market entry paths for dominant firms, it also appears to undervalue the benefits of business model competition, he writes.
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Throughout his judicial career, the US president’s latest nominee to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, has written three antitrust opinions. Here, Stephen Calkins of Wayne State University Law School reviews the trends that emerge from those opinions.
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The rumors of Facebook’s newfound vulnerability have been greatly exaggerated; Google reportedly employs more contractors than actual employees; Britain has a monopoly problem; and can consumers resist companies’ market power?
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Understanding how inequalities in health and inequalities in income are connected is key for policymaking. New research analyzing mortality trends in the United States and France finds that inequalities in income and health do not necessarily move in tandem and that public policy can help to break the link.
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The recent AT&T and Amex decisions showcase the pitfalls of considering antitrust cases solely on the basis of economic analysis and may have the effect of immunizing tech giants from serious antitrust scrutiny, argue Marshall Steinbaum of the Roosevelt Institute and James Biese in this op-ed.
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