AT&T

Richard R. John recounts how in the twentieth century the once-mighty Bell System, whose descendants include today’s Verizon and AT&T, waged a powerful decades-long public relations campaign, including the funding of history books and research centers, to persuade the public that its success rested in technological imperatives and economic incentives rather than a favorable regulatory landscape. Though the Bell PR campaign failed to stop three highly effective antitrust suits, it succeeded in establishing a story about management, competition, and innovation that many Americans—including several of today’s Big Tech critics—have uncritically repeated.

Breaking up companies that antitrust regulators consider too dominant can be costly and might negatively impact innovation and consumer welfare. As economists and policymakers...

Governments around the world seem to be on a path to turn the leading tech firms into public utilities. Interoperability is likely to be...

Not all forms of self-preferencing should be banned, but we do need a standard by which to evaluate allegations of anticompetitive self-preferencing. Congress should...

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...

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...

Brett Kavanaugh is expected to bring his pro-business bent to the Supreme Court; the DOJ is appealing the AT&T-Time Warner merger approval; Britain fines...

Antitrust expert Chris Sagers of Cleveland State University enumerates the failings of Judge Richard Leon’s dismissal last week of the Department of Justice’s attempt...

Professor Randy Picker of the University of Chicago Law School offers an early take on yesterday’s AT&T-Time Warner decision.     The US government got its clock...

A whistleblower alleges fraud in the audits of Silicon Valley companies; AT&T acknowledges that hiring Michael Cohen was a "bad mistake"; new analysis finds that...