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"Prosocial," Output-Reducing Collusion

One of my antitrust students recently pointed me to a television commercial that could inspire a great exam question. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the ad until I’d finished drafting this semester’s antitrust exam (which I’ve been grading…hence the absence from TOTM). The T.V. commercial trumpets an agreement among the members of the American Beverage Association ... "Prosocial," Output-Reducing Collusion

Google's Very Public Efficiencies Defense

Here is Google’s attempt to measure its the economic impact of Google search and adwords, adsense and its Google grants programs.  Some media coverage (including a critique of the calculations) here.  The total?  $54 billion.  The report includes state-by-state breakdowns.  Not exactly a made-for-litigation antitrust expert report, but I’m sure a few copies have been ... Google's Very Public Efficiencies Defense

Delaware's Future

I share Prof. Ribstein’s concerns about the federalization of corporate governance contained in the Dodd bill.  Though Senator Carper wasn’t able, in the end, to get the proxy access provisions out of the Dodd Bill, which I think were the most troubling, we did eliminate another of Senator Schumer’s ideas. (The corporate governance provisions of ... Delaware's Future

Law entrepreneurs

On Thursday I’ll be speaking at the Law & Entrepreneurship “Conference within a Conference” hosted by Law & Society at its annual meeting in Chicago.  Here’s my panel, also including Rob Beard, Brian Broughman and Erik Gerding. My topic is “law entrepreneurs.”   My presentation will continue my speculation, begun in Death of Big Law, on ... Law entrepreneurs

The federalization of corporate governance marches on

Last month I noted that the Senate was about to repeat its SOX mistake with another ill-fated foray into regulating corporate governance.  I focused on provisions for mandatory majority voting, separation of the board chair and CEO jobs, risk committees, say-on-pay, and pay-performance disclosures.   Now Annette Nazareth summarizes (HT Bainbridge) the provisions in the ... The federalization of corporate governance marches on

Who is Pressuring Antitrust? A Response to Wright

[Jonathan Baker (American University, currently on leave at the Federal Communications Commission where he is Chief Economist) has written the following response to Josh’s earlier post commenting on Baker’s forthcoming article: Preserving a Political Bargain: The Political Economy of the Non-Interventionist Challenge to Monopolization Enforcement.   Eds.] Thanks to Josh for engaging with my article in ... Who is Pressuring Antitrust? A Response to Wright

Cassano wins the corporate crime lottery

Justice has decided not to go after Joe Cassano, the man who crashed the world. The WSJ attributes this decision to the “high bar [the government] needs to meet to make criminal charges stick in a courtroom.”  How nice that the government has discovered this bar.  That could have something to do with its getting its head ... Cassano wins the corporate crime lottery

Litigating Delaware governance law in an alien land

A recent Delaware case, Baker v. Impact Holding, Inc.,  raises several interesting questions on a topic I’ve discussed recently – where to litigate cases involving Delaware business entities. Francis Pileggi has a good summary of the case.  I want to explore the case’s implications for jurisdictional competition.  First some general background before getting into the ... Litigating Delaware governance law in an alien land

The Capitalist & The Entrepreneur: Essays on Organizations and Markets

I purchased my copy of Peter Klein’s latest —  The Capitalist & The Entrepreneur: Essays on Organizations and Markets — today.  It is available for purchase here and here.  And if you wont to sneak a peak, you can see the full version here.  The role of the entrepreneur is one of the more under-theorized ... The Capitalist & The Entrepreneur: Essays on Organizations and Markets

Giving away the first year of law school

Christine Hurt suggests: If Progressive Law School costs $30,000 a year today, then starting next year, the first year is free, and the second year is $45,000 and the third year is $45,000.  Students are admitted the same way, only tuition is deferred until a student registers for the second year of law school.  If ... Giving away the first year of law school

Comments on Jonathan Baker's Preserving a Political Bargain

I’ve recently finished reading Jonathan Baker’s Preserving a Political Bargain: The Political Economy of the Non-Interventionist Challenge to Monopolization Enforcement, forthcoming in the Antitrust Law Journal. Baker’s central thesis in Preserving a Political Bargain builds on earlier work concerning competition policy as an implicit political bargain that was reached during the 1940s between the more ... Comments on Jonathan Baker's Preserving a Political Bargain

Price Discrimination in Education

Tom Smith offers an entertaining and insightful perspective on the economics of higher education: Without passing moral judgment in any way, I will just observe it is astonishing that higher education in this country has managed to get established a system where consumers have to disclose in detail how much money they have before they ... Price Discrimination in Education