Department of Justice
The Revised US Merger Guidelines Adopt the Future Markets Model
Since 1993 the American enforcers have claimed that they can directly protect firms’ competition to innovate. And the European Commission, which at first acknowledged that it protected competition in Future Markets, markets for products which do not exist yet, later claimed that it too can directly protect firms’ competition to innovate. In their new Revised Merger Guidelines the American enforcers now not only acknowledge that they protect competition in Future Markets, but say that they will do so aggressively. And since the Americans acknowledge that they protect competition in Future Markets the Europeans should do so as well—again.
Is US Antitrust Policy Too Lenient?
Are the antitrust enforcement agencies in the United States sufficiently stringent in challenging mergers? In a new working paper, Vivek Bhattacharya, Gastón Illanes, and David Stillerman inform this debate by examining the price and quantity effects of U.S. retail mergers and modeling the implications of alternative antitrust regimes.
How the Wrong Presumptions Led to the Wrong Conclusions in the United/Change Healthcare Merger
On Sept. 19, a federal judge approved UnitedHealth Group’s acquisition of Change Healthcare over the concerns of the U.S. Department of Justice. The judge’s...
Should The Competitive Process Test Replace The Consumer Welfare Standard?
Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, recently gave a speech condemning the use of the consumer welfare standard...
Morale At the DOJ’s Antitrust Division Has Plummeted. Here’s How to Fix It
The Biden administration should work to reverse the declining morale since a re-energized Antitrust Division will translate into more effective, innovative enforcement efforts.
The...
What the Biden DOJ Can Learn From the Clinton and Obama Years on How to Tackle America’s Monopoly Problem
The Clinton DOJ attacked international cartels. The Obama DOJ prioritized merger enforcement. The Biden DOJ needs to focus on America’s monopoly problem.
Antitrust is like...
What the Department of Justice Can Learn from the European Union’s Antitrust Investigations Into Google
The Department of Justice has opened antitrust investigations into Google's (alleged) attempt to monopolize online advertising. While the case recycles old grievances against Google,...
The Qualcomm Case: Why Protecting American Tech Monopolies Is a Big Favor to China
The FTC sued the company that monopolized the market of components for cell phones with its aggressive patent policy. However, in the technological race...
The Other Side of Trump's Shadow Diplomacy: After Ukraine, Quid Pro Quo in Italy Too?
The White House asked the Italian government for support in its "investigation on the investigators" to prove the existence of a Democratic plot against...
Policy Failure: The Role of “Economics” in AT&T-Time Warner and American Express
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...
