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During times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers and the public reveal a strong preference for fairness in pricing even when that would reduce efficiency. For example, they support the application of price gouging laws that prevent prices for necessities from skyrocketing but probably also dampen incentives for firms to produce more and alleviate the shortage. More generally, a growing body of research reveals that consumers have a strong preference for fairness over wealth maximization. This suggests that in making price policy, governments should abandon neoclassical economics and its wealth maximization criterion in favor of an approach that treats fairness in pricing as a first principle and paramount value. The chapter considers the implications of this "neo-Kantian" approach to price policy for antitrust law and policy in particular.
Contemporary interest among American progressives in using antitrust law to address wealth inequality lacks a firm intellectual foundation. Indeed, both the original American progressives of a century ago and Thomas Piketty, whose work sparked contemporary interest in inequality, agree that inequality’s source is scarcity, rather than monopoly, and so inequality will persist even in perfectly competitive markets. The only real solution is taxation, not a potentially destructive campaign of breakup. Why, then, is antimonopolism so popular among American progressives today? There are two reasons. The first is American anti-statism, which has closed off tax policy as a viable political solution to inequality, forcing progressive scholars and activists to seek a second- or third-best workaround in antitrust policy. The second is the American press, which is actively promoting antimonopolism as a way of fighting back against Google and Facebook, two companies that have badly outcompeted the press for advertising dollars in recent years.
The US corporate tax is over 100 years old, and many academic observers have doubted its value. The standard explanation for why we tax corporations is that it is an indirect tax on shareholders, but that is not a valid reason to have a corporate tax because (a) shareholders can be taxed directly and (b) many shareholders are tax-exempt and should not be taxed at all. However, there is another reason to tax corporations, which was in fact the original rationale why we adopted the corporate tax in 1909: to limit the power of large monopolistic corporations and regulate their activities. If that is the reason for the corporate tax, the US should have a different tax structure than the current 21 percent flat tax. The corporate tax should be set at zero for normal returns and at a sharply progressive rate for supernormal returns (rents).
Academic plagiarism norms enable successful scholars to monopolize ideas. The New Brandeis School in antitrust has sought to expand antitrust’s scope and ought, therefore, to support antitrust action against enforcers of plagiarism rules. However, the New Brandeis School includes many scholars, writers, and other creatives and has tended to support monopolization of intellectual output by creatives. For example, New Brandeisians have called for expansion of intellectual property laws to include news and for the non-enforcement of the antitrust laws against cartels of musicians. As a result, it is unlikely that this School will champion antitrust action against plagiarism norms.
After having argued against most current regulatory reform proposals directed at social media, this final chapter considers some regulatory initiatives worthy of consideration. It begins, however, with a call for caution. The principle of "First, do no harm" in medical ethics is highly relevant here. Social media is too new, and too rapidly evolving, for regulators to be able to confidently predict either the current impact of regulation or its long term effects, so regulators must act with humility. That said, social media also is not a law-free zone. Long-standing bodies of law, such as antitrust, contract, tort, and even family law, can and should be applied to social media firms in the same way as other private actors. Furthermore, even Section 230 in its current form should not be sacrosanct, and there is also room to consider granting platform users modest procedural protections against arbitrary content moderation decisions. Finally, there are strong arguments for a federal data privacy law, not directed at social media in particular but certainly applicable to it. In short, social media should not be above the law – but nor should it be the target of lawfare.
This chapter examines the transformative effects of generative AI (GenAI) on competition law, exploring how GenAI challenges traditional business models and antitrust regulations. The evolving digital economy, characterised by advances in deep learning and foundation models, presents unique regulatory challenges due to market power concentration and data control. This chapter analyses the approaches adopted by the European Union, United States, and United Kingdom to regulate the GenAI ecosystem, including recent legislation such as the EU Digital Markets Act, the AI Act, and the US Executive Order on AI. It also considers foundational models’ reliance on key resources, such as data, computing power, and human expertise, which shape competitive dynamics across the AI market. Challenges at different levels—including infrastructure, data, and applications—are investigated, with a focus on their implications for fair competition and market access. The chapter concludes by offering insights into the balance needed between fostering innovation and mitigating the risks of monopolisation, ensuring that GenAI contributes to a competitive and inclusive market environment.
Industrial concentration has increased in recent years with large companies consolidating their dominant positions. Concentrated markets are thought to benefit large firms as they earn elevated profits and gain political influence. Antitrust law is the main policy tool to reduce concentration. Calls to strengthen antitrust have come from the political left and the right, yet we know little about public support for such policies. We test how economic, moral, and democratic concerns influence support for antitrust. We find that the public does not respond to the consumer price benefits of antitrust but is moved by arguments invoking concerns for fairness and the importance of maintaining democratic institutions. We find that Republicans and Democrats often respond in divergent ways, with Republicans being less supportive of antitrust when informed that it could punish successful companies, whereas Democrats are more concerned about using antitrust to curb corporate influence. The findings accord with a general concern on the left for limiting business influence in politics and a concern on the right for maintaining business growth.
This article applies the lessons from the prior theory of responsive regulation in criminology to EU competition law and extends these lessons to argue in favour of an enhanced form of responsive competition law. First, it finds that EU competition law enforcement is already responsive in the traditional sense as it takes the reactions of undertakings into account when deciding which instrument to apply, in accordance with the enforcement pyramid developed by Braithwaite. An enforcement pyramid for EU competition law is presented. The objectives of competition law are found to be broad, and its key norms are open, facilitating responsiveness. This also allows competition law to develop to meet new societal demands, such as the need to control market power in the digital realm and to combat climate change. Next, the article examines the role of responsive and accountable behaviour by undertakings in competition law. First, it is found that in line with new forms of regulation concerning non-financial reporting, greenwashing, data protection, digital markets and services, and artificial intelligence, the special responsibility of dominant undertakings in competition law increasingly demands a pro-active approach to compliance. This also involves considering the interests of third parties and framing private governance in accordance with fundamental rights and legal principles. An enhanced degree of responsiveness of dominant undertakings results. Second, additional space is being created within competition law to accommodate undertakings that behave in a socially responsible manner, notably regarding sustainability. This is examined in relation to the issue of a fair share for consumers, and private enforcement by means of compliance agreements. After discussing potential objections to responsiveness in terms of democratic legitimacy, legal certainty, and redistribution of wealth, the article concludes that the developments sketched above indeed point towards the reinforcement of the responsive nature of competition law.
This paper tests the insiders’ dilemma hypothesis in a laboratory experiment. The insiders’ dilemma means that a profitable merger does not occur, because it is even more profitable for each firm to unilaterally stand as an outsider (Stigler, 1950; Kamien and Zang, 1990, 1993). The experimental data provides support for the insiders’ dilemma, and thereby for endogenous rather than exogenous merger theory. More surprisingly, our data suggests that fairness (or relative performance) considerations also make profitable mergers difficult. Mergers that should occur in equilibrium do not, since they require an unequal split of surplus.
Antitrust policy aims to reduce market concentration and increase competition among firms. Contemporary antitrust is sensitive to both domestic and international considerations. Internationally, the market is dominated by the largest firms, raising questions about the competitiveness of domestic firms and the application of antitrust against foreign firms. Domestically, public support for antitrust is needed for continued enforcement. This paper examines how international markets shape public support for antitrust in the United States. Using media analysis, we find that antitrust is increasingly in the news, and that international competition is referenced in antitrust debates. We theorize that support for antitrust is shaped by concerns for the competitiveness of domestic firms, relative to foreign competition, and that these concerns vary based on individuals’ levels of nationalism. We test our theory using a survey experiment and find that individuals are especially concerned with being placed at a disadvantage relative to foreign competitors. Interestingly, we find that using antitrust laws against foreign firms yields divergent reactions—highly nationalistic Americans increase their support for strong antitrust laws, while those with low levels of nationalism decrease support. The paper highlights the importance of global competition in shaping preferences for domestic regulation.
Although citizens value competitive markets and support small businesses, we observe substantial variation in market concentration. Why do politicians abstain from taking action to reduce concentration? We propose an often overlooked political benefit to concentrated markets: When concentration increases, competition is less pronounced and firms earn larger profits. These profits can be taxed for government revenue or used to reward business-friendly politicians. We expect politicians to impose more lenient competition policies toward firms that provide larger sources of revenue. Moreover, this relationship should be especially strong under authoritarian political institutions, where politicians only weakly value the free market and consumer outcomes and where institutional commitments to unbiased policies are weak. We derive our theoretical claims from a formal model. We draw on both cross-country evidence and evidence from Turkey at the firm and industry level to evaluate our claims. We find that as political institutions become less representative, firms that make higher tax payments tend to control more assets, operate in more concentrated industries, and engage in higher value M&As. Our study points to the weak provision of competition policies as a source of rent-seeking.
This essay celebrates the BU Health Law Program upon its 70th anniversary, offering reflections on the founders of the program, Fran Miller, George Annas, and Wendy Mariner (“FGW,” endearingly), and their contributions to the field.
Current faculty offer reflections, including: Several speak to scholarly research, including Elizabeth McCuskey on health care finance, Aziza Ahmed on human rights, Dionne Lomax on antitrust, Christopher Robertson on trust, and Kathy Zeiler on the marketplace. Other contributors speak to the student experience, with Dianne McCarthy on mentorship, Laura Stephens on demanding excellence, Michael Ulrich on teaching, and Larry Vernaglia on merging law and public health. On FGW’s broader impacts, Nicole Huberfeld speaks to the translation of research to reach new audiences, and Kevin Outterson writes about FGW’s pivotal roles in establishing the health law field and the institutions that now define it.
Together these pieces testify to the astounding contributions of these scholar-teacher-leaders across many domains and dimensions of health law. While their contributions are countless and immeasurable, these reflections offer a start.
For the past decade, U.S. communications policymakers have been debating the need for net-neutrality regulation of “dominant” communications carrier platforms. One of the reasons advanced for regulating these carriers derives from a fear that carriers could reduce competition in the production and distribution of video media through their ownership of media companies, but is there any evidence supporting the notion that vertically integrated communications companies have successfully used such a strategy? This paper provides evidence from the financial markets that carrier integration into video production has not redounded to the benefit of these companies’ stockholders. In fact, this integration appears to reduce the value that investors place on such carriers, a result that suggests that the difficulties in managing a large, vertically integrated media and communications company more than offset any benefits (if any) that may derive from anticompetitive behavior induced by vertical integration.
The exercise of monopsony in labor markets is limited to one degree or another by public policy. Employer conduct aimed at creating monopsony power is governed by the Sherman Act of 1890, which forbids collusion among employers as well as competitively unreasonable conduct by a single employer.
This chapter discusses private suits and the prohibition of §1 and the sanctions for violations. Corporations are subject to fines while individuals may be fined and/or imprisoned. Section 1 forbids collusive restraints of trade. In the past, there was some confusion regarding the applicability of §1 to labor markets. These days are gone. The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission have issued their Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals in which the agencies make it crystal clear that they will pursue criminal convictions for collusion in labor markets. In addition to public sanctions, §4 of the Clayton Act provides a private right of action for antitrust victims.
In our final chapter, we summarize the antitrust law and economics of monopsony in the labor market. We provide some policy recommendations that are consistent with economic principles and empirical reality.
Monopsony is the label that Joan Robinson attached to a market in which a single employer faces a competitively structured supply of labor. For some reason, her early theoretical analysis, along with the insights of A. C. Piguo and J. R. Hicks, did not gain much traction. Recently, however, economists and policymakers have recognized the ill effects of monopsony and have offered some actions aimed at mitigating – if not eliminating – the monopsony problem. In our view, vigorous enforcement – both public and private – of the antitrust laws can play a large role in reducing the ill effects of monopsony power in the labor market.
The economics of monopsony power results in lower wages and other forms of compensation, as well as reduced employment. Wealth is transferred from workers to their employers. In addition, the employer's output is reduced, which leads to increased prices for consumers. Monopsony in Labor Markets demonstrates that elements of monopsony are pervasive and explores the available antitrust policy options. It presents the economic and empirical foundations for antitrust concerns and sets out the relevant antitrust policy. Building on this foundation, it examines collusion on compensation, collusive no-poaching agreements, and the inclusion of non-compete agreements in employment contracts. It also addresses the influence of labor unions, labor's antitrust exemption, which permits the exercise of countervailing power, and the consequences of mergers to monopsony. Offering a thorough explanation of antitrust policy, this book identifies the basic economic problems with monopsony in labor markets and explains the remedies currently available.
One of the world’s greatest experiments in open innovation is mobile wireless. Technology enterprises have invested billions of R&D dollars to develop 2G, 3G, 4G, now 5G, and hopefully 6G soon. Technology developers make investments and look to the patent system and associated regulators to reward them for risky investments, should their patented technologies become included in the standards. In recent years there has been an uptick in the number of technology implementers. But because patents are not self-enforcing, unlicensed use occurs, which is corrosive of the open innovation system that allows non-vertically integrated firms to compete at the device level. This chapter reviews antitrust theories that some implementers have used to avoid paying royalties to patent owners. This is examined in the context of the FRAND licensing regime established by ETSI, a standards development organization. “Hold up” and “hold out” theories are examined. Hold up theories lack empirical support and are misused by some implementers—particularly those in China—who would prefer to free ride on the R&D investments of others. Restoring and revitalizing technology markets for mobile wireless likely requires limits to be placed on the availability of FRAND licenses with respect to recalcitrant technology implementers. Otherwise, the innovation ecosystem will be harmed, and open innovation (that is, licensing) business models will collapse.
Times are changing as our global ecosystem for commercializing innovation helps bring new technologies to market, networks grow, and interconnections and transactions become more complex around standards, all to enable vast opportunities to improve the human condition, to further competition, and to improve broad access. The policies that governments use to structure their legal systems for intellectual property, especially patents, as well as for competition—or antitrust—continue to have myriad powerful impacts and raise intense debates over challenging questions. This chapter explores a representative set of debates about policy approaches to patents, to elucidate particular ideas to bear in mind about how adopting a private law, property rights-based approach to patents enables them to better operate as tools for facilitating the commercialization of new technologies in ways that best promote the goals of increasing access while fostering competition and security for a diverse and inclusive society.