Following his ouster from New America, antitrust scholar Barry Lynn talks to ProMarket about academic capture and the power of digital platforms like Google.
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A Small Step for Theory, a Leap Forward in Corporate Governance
Moving from shareholder value maximization to shareholder welfare maximization may be a small step in theory, but it could trigger a leap forward in the way our corporations are run.
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“The Connection Between Finance and Politics Has Been Under-Researched for Years”
Ahead of the Stigler Center’s conference on the political economy of finance, we interviewed Stigler Center Director Luigi Zingales about the motivation behind the first-of-its-kind conference.
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Stigler Center Launches Case Study Series
On Thursday, the Stigler Center will launch the first in a series of business case studies that focus on the many ways special interest groups subvert competition.
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Can Narratives Shape Society?
Narratives that alter beliefs and change norms or guiding principles may indeed have real and lasting effects.
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“No Mistake About it: A Revolt Against Globalization is Underway!”
In this installment of ProMarket’s new interview series, Columbia Law School’s John C. Coffee Jr. shares some thoughts on political engagement by corporations. “Milton Friedman seems to have been wrong in his insistence that directors consider only the interests of shareholders.”
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Conference: Is There a Concentration Problem in America?
On March 27-29, the Stigler Center will host a first-of-its-kind, three-day conference on the question of concentration in the U.S. economy that will bring together top economists, policymakers, regulators, journalists, and public intellectuals.
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“Political Engagement by Corporations Derives from and is Focused on Seeking Monopolistic Power”
In this installment of ProMarket’s new interview series, Harvard Business School professor emeritus Joseph Bower shares some thoughts on rent-seeking, politics, and the role of corporations and governments in the market. “The neo-classical model simply does not comprehend the modern corporation.”
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“So Long As Corporate Managers See Their Objective as Maximizing Returns, Rent-Seeking and Regulatory Capture Will Persist”
In this installment of ProMarket’s new interview series on the economic theory of the firm, Harvard Business School professor Lynn Paine discusses the role of corporations and the need to reform capitalism. “Business schools generally do a poor job educating their students about the role of government and business-government relations.”
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The Role of Narratives in Economics
Narratives are vectors of ideas. Nobel laureate Robert Shiller suggests that in the age of social information networks, economists need to rethink how and why information really spreads.
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“In a System with Dominance, There is Built-In Resistance to Change”: ProMarket Interviews Bernard Yeung, Part 2
In the second part of his interview with ProMarket, Bernard Yeung—one of the economists who laid the foundations of scientific research on economic power concentration—discusses free trade, the connection between wealth and power, and why governments may actually prefer markets controlled by dominant players rather than by many competitors.
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Nobel Laureates: Eliminating Rent Seeking and Tougher Antitrust Enforcement Are Critical to Reducing Inequality
Angus Deaton: “A lot of the inequality in the U.S. comes from rent seeking. It comes from firms and industry seeking special protection or special favors from the government.”
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