The two big ideas that animated American public policy since the end of World War II, employer-sponsored social benefits and neoliberalism, are failures. We need better options.
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How Amazon’s Pricing Policies Squeeze Sellers and Result in Higher Prices for Consumers
Amazon’s price matching policies, which were meant to ensure its dominant position, diminished the ability of brands to control how their products are distributed and the prices at which these products are sold, writes Shaoul Sussman.
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Why American Voters Are Still Not Ready to Support Carbon Taxes
Economists and policy elites love carbon taxes, but voters dislike them. A new study suggests that ideology has a lot to do with it.
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How the Supreme Court Is Rebranding Corruption
In thirteen years of hostile decisions, the Roberts Supreme Court has done all it can to legalize corruption. With the Bridgegate case, it gets a chance to wreak even more havoc and possibly end the use of the term “corruption” as a useful legal concept.
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“Following the Money” to Uncover Terrorist Organizations
Critics have argued in recent years that financial counterterrorism is costly and ineffective. But a new Stigler Center working paper shows that it can reduce terrorist attacks and casualties.
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How Antimonopoly Was Revitalized, Part 2: Barack Obama and the End of the End of History
In this second installment of his three-part series on antitrust’s recent resurrection, Matt Stoller discusses the legacy of Obama’s presidency. The real policy for which Obama will be known is not Obamacare or Dodd-Frank, but bailing out the banks after the 2008 financial crisis and helping Americans and the rest of the world understand that liberal democratic rhetoric was really an ornamental cover for a system of concentrated financial and political power.
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Why Antimonopoly Awoke From Its Slumber, Part 1: The Clinton Era’s Failed Utopia
In the first part of a three-part series, Matt Stoller explains why antimonopoly politics is experiencing a resurgence.
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How the Adtech Market Incentivizes Profit-Driven Disinformation
If we want to solve the disinformation crisis, we need to fix the perverse incentives created by the online advertising market through structural and regulatory solutions.
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Sorry, Mr. Delrahim: Big Tech’s Worst Abuses Can’t Be Cured Without Stiffer Regulation
Simply adding competition in the tech sector won’t solve problems like privacy abuses or discrimination. Competition is needed, but regulation is a necessary element of any tech solution.
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The Decline of American Journalism Is an Antitrust Problem
Weak antitrust enforcement set the stage for Facebook and Google to extract the fruits of publishers’ labor. We won’t be able to save journalism and solve our disinformation problem unless we weaken monopolies’ power.
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Algorithms and AI Are Radically Changing Insurance. Regulators Are Behind the Curve
The growing use of artificial intelligence to price insurance could erode basic legal protections built into the law to protect both individuals and the insurance market. To prevent discrimination and ensure fairness, regulators must begin to develop new capacities and tools.
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Designating Tech Platforms as “Information Fiduciaries” Would Do Little to Address the Source of Their Power
The notion that Facebook, Google, and Twitter should be assigned fiduciary duties toward their end users has gained broad support in recent years. However, this proposed framework invites policy misfires since it fails to grapple with the structural dimensions of tech platforms’ power.
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