Recent Articles

Holtz-Eakin & Smith on The Economics of ObamaCare

Geoffrey Manne

March 20, 2012 01:57

Douglas Holtz-Eakin and my former George Mason colleague and Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith are in the WSJ today discussing the economic wisdom and constitutionality of ObamaCare.  From the WSJ: The Obama administration defends the mandate on the ground that a person’s decision to not buy health...

The Apple E-Book Kerfuffle Meets Alfred Marshall’s Principles of Economics

Geoffrey Manne

March 15, 2012 16:35

From a pure antitrust perspective, the real story behind the DOJ’s Apple e-book investigation is the Division’s deep commitment to the view that Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) clauses are anticompetitive (see also here), no doubt spurred on at least in part by Chief Economist Fiona...

The DOJ’s Problematic Attack on Property Rights Through Merger Review

Geoffrey Manne

March 14, 2012 04:22

The DOJ’s recent press release on the Google/Motorola, Rockstar Bidco, and Apple/ Novell transactions struck me as a bit odd when I read it.  As I’ve now had a bit of time to digest it, I’ve grown to really dislike it.  For those who have not followed Jorge Contreras had an...

More Bailout Fallout: Non-buyer’s Remorse

Geoffrey Manne

March 12, 2012 21:05

An interesting story in the WSJ Online today about American Insurance Group (AIG)’s use of a standard tax write-off and the political firestorm it is creating…all because the Washington establishment thought it could hide behind semantics during the bailout era. The benefits at issue...

Competition for Distribution, Search Engine Edition

Geoffrey Manne

March 12, 2012 15:37

A recent report notes that while Apple may be shifting away from Google Maps, Google remains the default search engine in Safari, and thus, remains the default search on a variety of Apple devices.  Google competes vigorously for this right; indeed, competition among search engines drives the price...

Google Isn’t ‘Leveraging Its Dominance,’ It’s Fighting To Avoid Obsolescence

Geoffrey Manne

March 12, 2012 14:14

Six months may not seem a great deal of time in the general business world, but in the Internet space it’s a lifetime as new websites, tools and features are introduced every day that change where and how users get and share information. The rise of Facebook is a great example: the social...

David Schleicher on City Unplanning

Geoffrey Manne

March 07, 2012 08:19

Forbes interviews my colleague and office neighbor David Schleicher on his new and very interesting paper, City Unplanning.  This paper continues Schleicher’s interesting line of research on the law and economics of cities with a creative and powerful analysis of the political economy of...

Greg Werden in Defense of Defining Markets

Geoffrey Manne

March 07, 2012 06:00

One of the more significant papers in antitrust of late has been Professor Kaplow’s Why (Ever) Define Markets?  Kaplow provocatively argues that the entire “market definition/ market share” paradigm of antitrust is misguided and beyond repair.  Kaplow describes the exclusive role...

Federalist Society Event (March 14): Antitrust as Regulation?

Geoffrey Manne

March 06, 2012 21:15

You can register here.  From the website description: The popular press is full of reports of a renewed vigor in parts of our antitrust enforcement regime that address the conduct of leading firms. Investigations have been started or rumored against any number of firms near or at the top of various...