Showing results for: “varney”
The American Antitrust Institute Fruitlessly Searches for the Key to American Competitive Conditions under the Antitrust Lamppost
On September 28, the American Antitrust Institute released a report (“AAI Report”) on the state of U.S. antitrust policy, provocatively entitled “A National Competition Policy: Unpacking the Problem of Declining Competition and Setting Priorities for Moving Forward.” Although the AAI Report contains some valuable suggestions, in important ways it reminds one of the drunkard who ... The American Antitrust Institute Fruitlessly Searches for the Key to American Competitive Conditions under the Antitrust Lamppost
Congratulations to Bill Baer
President Obama has, as rumored, appointed Bill Baer (Arnold & Porter) to head the Antitrust Division. Reuters reports: Baer, who is the chair of Arnold and Porter’s Antitrust Practice Group, also previously headed the Federal Trade Commission’s competition division when it stopped a merger between Staples and Office Depot in 1997. He will replace Sharis ... Congratulations to Bill Baer
AAG Varney to Cravath
Of likely interest to many of our readers (HT: WSJ): Christine Varney, the U.S. government’s chief antitrust regulator, is expected to join New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP as a partner later this year, people familiar with the matter said. Ms. Varney was appointed assistant attorney general for the antitrust division in ... AAG Varney to Cravath
Politics and Price Gouging
Commissioner Rosch gets off his second shot in against the Department of Justice in just a few weeks in the pages of the Wall Street Journal — this time in a letter to the editor: Obama’s Political ‘Price-Gouging’ If any doubts existed about whether the Justice Department is just “an arm of the administration,” they ... Politics and Price Gouging
More on the Fighting Antitrust Agencies
One additional observation on the WSJ story Paul mentioned. Much has been written about the strained relationship between the FTC and DOJ in antitrust matters. There has, of course, never been a more descriptive and entertaining version of these tensions than the one offered by former Chairman and now Commissioner Kovacic who observed that the ... More on the Fighting Antitrust Agencies
Some Links
SCOTUS judge and law clerk selection as principal-agent / incomplete contracting problem (Orin Kerr) How to read an academic article (Peter Klein), though what seems missing are decision-rules for when articles should be “rejected” for a full-read after skimming The Washington Post reports that antitrust at the Varney DOJ isn’t much different than antitrust under ... Some Links
Who Are You Calling A Price Theorist Anyway?: Commissioner Rosch Takes on the HMGs Economist “Architects”
Commissioner Rosch has offered an interesting separate statement on the new HMGs. While favoring the new guidelines generally, Commissioner Rosch offers several criticisms. I concur with a few of these criticisms, for example, Commissioner Rosch also argues for a more empirical approach to merger analysis. I agree with that general proposition despite, as we shall ... Who Are You Calling A Price Theorist Anyway?: Commissioner Rosch Takes on the HMGs Economist “Architects”
Obama, Antitrust, and the Great Recession
On the campaign trail, Barack Obama made an issue of the ostensibly lax state of antitrust enforcement during the Bush administration. Christine Varney’s first public act as head of the Antitrust Division was to withdraw the Bush Antitrust Division’s unilateral monopolization report and announce that trustbusting against dominant firms was back on the agenda. Expectations ... Obama, Antitrust, and the Great Recession
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
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
DOJ Stumbling Out Of The Gate On Antitrust In Ag
Wednesday, April 7, J.P. Stadtmueller, U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, gave the green light for DOJ’s antitrust case against Dean Foods to move forward. Dean had filed a motion to dismiss based on its assertion that the DOJ had failed to provide sufficient evidence to support the DOJ’s antitrust claim ... DOJ Stumbling Out Of The Gate On Antitrust In Ag
Varney's comments from the DOJ/USDA hearings [#dojusda #agworkshop]
The DOJ has posted the transcript from the recent DOJ/USDA hearings on antitrust in agriculture here. I figured our readers might be especially interested in seeing Christine Varney’s comments (especially without having to slog through all 350 pages to find them!). I have bolded some of the most interesting parts of her comments. As a ... Varney's comments from the DOJ/USDA hearings [#dojusda #agworkshop]
