News
Entertainment
Science & Technology
Life
Culture & Art
Hobbies
News
Entertainment
Science & Technology
Culture & Art
Hobbies
AI Patent Policy Should Promote Economic Growth and Innovation - Truth on the Market
Artificial intelligence is “technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem solving, decision making, creativity and autonomy.” AI will play an increasingly important role in driving innovation and economic growth. Strong patent protection can incentivize AI-related inventions and the transmission of AI-specific technological improvements throughout the economy. Accordingly, the Trump administration may ... AI Patent Policy Should Promote Economic Growth and Innovation
Are TikTok’s Days Numbered? - Truth on the Market
The U.S. Supreme Court will on Jan. 10 hear an appeal of a Dec. 6 decision from the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding a 2024 federal law requiring Chinese company ByteDance to divest itself of the TikTok platform. The law will take effect Jan. 19, unless the Supreme Court strikes ... Are TikTok’s Days Numbered?
The FTC Takes Action to Raise Wine and Spirit Prices - Truth on the Market
In a 3-2 party-line vote, a divided Federal Trade Commission (FTC) moved Dec. 18 to seek a federal district court injunction against Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits LLC, the largest U.S. distributor of wines and spirits. The FTC complaint alleges that Southern’s discounting practices discriminated against small independent businesses, violating the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), to ... The FTC Takes Action to Raise Wine and Spirit Prices
A Possible Federal Role in Reducing State Red Tape - Truth on the Market
The incoming Trump administration’s commitment to reduce extremely costly regulatory burdens will feature the new Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) evaluation of federal overregulation. But economic research indicates that harmful regulatory bloat exists at the state level, as well. The new administration may wish to propose solutions to state regulatory overreach that harms many Americans. Generic Overregulation at the State ... A Possible Federal Role in Reducing State Red Tape
Antitrust at the Agencies Roundup: Rounding up the Roundups - Truth on the Market
It’s Not All About Price, Except When We Say So I don’t know if this is the end of an era, the end of an error, a bit of both, or something far more complicated than that, but let’s start with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Melissa Holyoak’s dissent in In the Matter of Southern ... Antitrust at the Agencies Roundup: Rounding up the Roundups
Policy Without Policymaking: Australia’s New Digital Competition Regime Is Primarily Designed to Get Through Parliament - Truth on the Market
The Australian government’s announcement earlier this month of a proposed new competition regime for digital marketplaces has a long history. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been investigating digital-market competition for nearly a decade. The latest iteration of the ACCC’s digital platforms inquiry has published nine interim reports, with a tenth report to ... Policy Without Policymaking: Australia’s New Digital Competition Regime Is Primarily Designed to Get Through Parliament
The Hidden Wealth of Payment Cards: How Innovations in Payments Transform Society - Truth on the Market
It’s a dreary December morning and, on your way to work, you stop at a coffee shop. There are only three people in line, so you assume you’ll be served quickly. But after a few minutes, you notice the customer at the front of the queue fumbling as they laboriously count out the exact change. ... The Hidden Wealth of Payment Cards: How Innovations in Payments Transform Society
Kids and Online Safety: An International End-of-Year Review - Truth on the Market
As the year comes to a close, it is worth reviewing how governments around the world—including at both the state and federal level in the United States—have approached online regulation to protect minors. I will review several of the major legislative and regulatory initiatives, with brief commentary on the tradeoffs involved in each approach. Age ... Kids and Online Safety: An International End-of-Year Review
Labor Antitrust: A Solution in Search of Evidence - Truth on the Market
The growing focus on labor-market power and antitrust enforcement has sparked important debates about both the empirical foundations and practical implementation of these emerging policy priorities. In a recent piece for ProMarket, Eric Posner argues that overwhelming academic evidence supports expanding antitrust scrutiny of labor markets—criticizing, in particular, the skepticism expressed by the Federal Trade ... Labor Antitrust: A Solution in Search of Evidence
CFPB’s Overdraft Fee Price Controls Would Be Counterproductive - Truth on the Market
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a final rule last week to impose price controls and onerous disclosure rules on overdraft fees charged by those banks and credit unions with assets of more than $10 billion. At first glance, such interventions might seem like a win for consumers, particularly those with low incomes who ... CFPB’s Overdraft Fee Price Controls Would Be Counterproductive
AI Hallucinations, GDPR, and the Importance of Cautious Optimism - Truth on the Market
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the EU’s data-protection law, requires accuracy in processing personal data. But generative-AI services, such as large language models (LLM), may “hallucinate” or reflect information that is false but widely spread. On one hand, such inaccuracies may seem like an inherent feature of the technology. On the other, some major ... AI Hallucinations, GDPR, and the Importance of Cautious Optimism
The View from Korea: A TOTM Q&A with Dae Sik Hong - Truth on the Market
Professor Hong, could you please tell us a bit more about your background and how you got interested in digital competition regulation? In South Korea, I have unique combined experience as a court judge and as an antitrust specialist at a major law firm, conducting numerous research projects that connect theory and practice. I have ... The View from Korea: A TOTM Q&A with Dae Sik Hong
The Year in Telecom: A Hootenanny Roundup - Truth on the Market
They say that when you’re raising kids, the days drag on, but the years fly by. The same could be said for this year in telecom policy. In 2024, the telecommunications industry faced a whirlwind of regulatory changes, legal challenges, and more than its fair share of fire drills without a fire. Let’s use this ... The Year in Telecom: A Hootenanny Roundup
DOJ’s Not-so-Modest Proposal - Truth on the Market
The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) late last month filed its much-anticipated initial proposed final judgment in the Google Search antitrust case. The proposal—to use a bit of baseball parlance—swung for the fences. Maybe they’ll get a hit, or maybe even a home run. Or not. Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani hit a whopping 54 home runs ... DOJ’s Not-so-Modest Proposal
Forced Sharing: Stepping Stones or Stumbling Blocks? - Truth on the Market
Recent headlines about the U.S. Justice Department’s (DOJ) antitrust case targeting Google Search echo a familiar policy script. In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Thomas Lenard and Scott Wallsten warn that forcing Google to share its technology could undermine innovation—a lesson they say we should have learned from telecommunications policy decades ago. In 1996, ... Forced Sharing: Stepping Stones or Stumbling Blocks?
It May Be Time to Consider Reforming Global Competition Policy - Truth on the Market
As the incoming Trump administration contemplates ways to promote U.S. economic growth and innovation, it may wish to consider two possible new global competition-policy initiatives. These actions, if successful, could help protect American (and foreign) firms from foreign government impediments to effective competition. Antitrust Around the World Antitrust law (called competition law in other countries) ... It May Be Time to Consider Reforming Global Competition Policy
Reclaiming Antitrust - Truth on the Market
The United States is the birthplace of antitrust, starting with the enactment of the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890. During the late 19th and early 20th century, cartels were common in Europe, while U.S. antitrust enforcers unraveled them. Only after World War II did European countries incrementally adopt competition law in various forms. Since that ... Reclaiming Antitrust
Why Trump May Consolidate Federal Antitrust Enforcement - Truth on the Market
President-elect Donald Trump’s new “Department of Government Efficiency” has been tasked with providing advice and guidance on reducing government waste and restructuring federal agencies. One act of restructuring that may warrant consideration would involve consolidating all federal antitrust enforcement within the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ). There are strong arguments that this would reduce waste. In addition, ... Why Trump May Consolidate Federal Antitrust Enforcement
Why It May Be Time to Consider a Merger Policy Reset in 2025 - Truth on the Market
The Biden administration’s federal antitrust regulators—the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)—have been widely perceived as actively discouraging mergers and acquisitions. This reflects the rejection of a longstanding bipartisan understanding that government would only oppose proposed M&A transactions that are likely to harm competition. The Biden approach arguably threatens to harm the ... Why It May Be Time to Consider a Merger Policy Reset in 2025
European Competition Law Is Lost at Sea - Truth on the Market
Imagine a world where digital-competition policy was guided by a desire to foster startup activity, competitiveness and, ultimately, growth. Competition policymakers would promote market conditions that enable new digital services to rapidly launch, gain user traction, and achieve greater scale. All of this would improve productivity, drive down prices for existing services, and help to ... European Competition Law Is Lost at Sea
What Project 2025 Can Tell Us About Brendan Carr’s FCC Priorities - Truth on the Market
My high-school-aged son came home from school the day after Election Day in distress. His history teacher spent the entire class listing the Parade of Horribles in Project 2025 and its dire consequences for the United States. I asked my son, “Project 2025 is more than 900 pages. Do you think your teacher read it?” ... What Project 2025 Can Tell Us About Brendan Carr’s FCC Priorities
Economics Still Matters for Policy - Truth on the Market
Politicians have stopped listening to economists. Well, I’m not sure they ever listened, but now they really don’t. The Wall Street Journal even declared this was “The Year Politicians Turned Their Backs on Economics.” As Greg Ip explained, “the candidates haven’t just demoted economic principles this year; they’ve jettisoned them altogether. It’s as if they wanted to flip the ... Economics Still Matters for Policy
The Law & Economics of the First Amendment: Curation, Targeted Advertising, and Access to Online Speech - Truth on the Market
We at the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) filed an amicus brief earlier this month to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in the NetChoice v. Bonta case. It was an updated version of the brief we filed earlier this year before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. ... The Law & Economics of the First Amendment: Curation, Targeted Advertising, and Access to Online Speech
Clarifying Antitrust Law by Straightening Teeth - Truth on the Market
More than a century ago, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Sherman Act does not interfere with the “unquestioned right to stop dealing,” but the legacy of the Aspen Skiing is that terminating voluntary cooperation with a rival can give rise to liability. A case now on appeal could determine whether the “right to ... Clarifying Antitrust Law by Straightening Teeth
FCC’s New Satellite Rules: Sharing Is Caring - Truth on the Market
In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in September, SpaceX provided a masterclass in public relations by handing out thousands of Starlink satellite-broadband kits, waiving monthly fees, and enabling emergency alerts over cellular networks in affected areas. Not only did the effort generate significant goodwill for the company, but it also demonstrated that satellite technology can ... FCC’s New Satellite Rules: Sharing Is Caring
Bell Canada’s Proposed Acquisition of Ziply: Regulators May Be the Least of Their Worries - Truth on the Market
Bell Canada, Canada’s largest communications company, recently announced plans to acquire Ziply Fiber, a fiber-internet provider in the Pacific Northwest. The C$7 billion deal represents Bell’s strategic play to expand its fiber footprint into the United States and to capitalize on growth opportunities in what it sees as an underserved U.S. fiber market. The proposed ... Bell Canada’s Proposed Acquisition of Ziply: Regulators May Be the Least of Their Worries
The FTC World Keeps On Turning - Truth on the Market
You’re no doubt aware that we’ve had a presidential election since my last column. Agency news seems pallid, in comparison, but those of you who’ve come here looking for deep insights into what it all means are liable to be disappointed, not to mention zero in number. “The Meaning of Life” is a movie by ... The FTC World Keeps On Turning
The AI Legislative Puzzle - Truth on the Market
With Donald Trump’s victory in this week’s presidential election, the federal government’s approach to the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) stands at a crucial inflection point. While there may be pressure to rush through AI legislation during Congress’ upcoming lame-duck session, such haste could prove counterproductive for U.S. leadership in AI development. Instead, this transition ... The AI Legislative Puzzle
Assessing the Government’s Monopolization Case Against Visa - Truth on the Market
The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) has initiated an antitrust monopolization case against Visa for various practices related to its debit-card services. The complaint centers on two primary theories of harm. The first is that Visa offers volume discounts in a manner that locks in merchant banks (or “acquirers”) into Visa’s debit-card network, which deprives rival ... Assessing the Government’s Monopolization Case Against Visa
Should the GDPR Prohibit AI? - Truth on the Market
The European Data Protection Board’s (EDPB) Nov. 5 stakeholder consultation on AI models and data protection—organized to gather input for an upcoming Irish Data Protection Commission opinion under Article 64(2) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)—showcased significant lingering disagreement on how the GDPR should apply to AI. While the event was not intended to ... Should the GDPR Prohibit AI?
What the IMF Gets Wrong About Costa Rica's Payment-Card Caps - Truth on the Market
The Asamblea Legislativa de la República de Costa Rica (Costa Rica’s legislature) moved in 2020 to empower the Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR), the nation’s central bank, to impose price controls on fees charged by both payment-card issuers and acquirers. I have written previously about the perverse effects these price controls can generate (here, ... What the IMF Gets Wrong About Costa Rica’s Payment-Card Caps
The View from India: A TOTM Q&A with Shivanghi Sukumar - Truth on the Market
Could you tell us a bit about your background and how you got interested in digital competition regulation? I am a competition lawyer, and have been practicing competition law in India since the early days of its enforcement. A big part of my work has been related to the enforcement of behavioral provisions, and I’ve ... The View from India: A TOTM Q&A with Shivanghi Sukumar
Weighing DOJ’s Proposed Remedies for Google’s Monopolization - Truth on the Market
The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) has proposed remedies to a federal judge who held that Google illegally monopolized web search. In reviewing the DOJ’s recommendations, the judge should take into account the downsides of particular remedies, as well as their potential benefits. The judge should be careful not to impose remedies that could reduce innovation ... Weighing DOJ’s Proposed Remedies for Google’s Monopolization
The FCC’s Quixotic Quest to Regulate Broadband Data Caps - Truth on the Market
Internet use has soared since the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2019 and 2022, average monthly data usage increased from 344 GB to 586 GB per month—a 70% increase. In 2019, only 16% of subscribers were on speed tiers of greater than 200 Mbps. By 2023, 74% had such speeds, and a third of subscribers had speeds ... The FCC’s Quixotic Quest to Regulate Broadband Data Caps
A Tale of Two App Stores - Truth on the Market
Dueling federal antitrust holdings dealing with app stores could have significant impacts on the future of competition in mobile-internet services. Going forward, antitrust policy in this area should focus on promoting consumer welfare and innovation, rather than the interests of particular competitors. App Store Basics Google and Apple compete vigorously for consumer favor in smartphones. ... A Tale of Two App Stores
And the 2024 Economics Nobel Goes to... - Truth on the Market
The 2024 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (or simply THE Nobel Prize, as I call it) was awarded this morning to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.” I called last year’s prize to Claudia Goldin “a surprise to no one.” This year’s prize is ... And the 2024 Economics Nobel Goes to…
FTC Sues ‘Big 3’ Pharmaceutical Benefit Managers - Truth on the Market
My last post highlighted a July 2024 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) interim staff report that was critical of pharmaceutical benefit managers (PBMs)—so-called “middlemen” firms that specialize in negotiating with drugmakers for rebates on the list prices of drugs. I explained that the interim report’s analysis is at odds with economic research that delineates the substantial economic benefits ... FTC Sues ‘Big 3’ Pharmaceutical Benefit Managers
Preemptive Digital-Platform Rules Are Not Good Competition Policy, But They Were Never Meant to Be - Truth on the Market
Inspired by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a growing number of jurisdictions around the globe either have adopted or are considering adopting frameworks of preemptive digital-competition rules (DCRs) that would more closely regulate the business models of such platforms as Google’s search engine and Amazon’s e-commerce business. The Turkish government may soon join ... Preemptive Digital-Platform Rules Are Not Good Competition Policy, But They Were Never Meant to Be
Antitrust at the Agencies: PBM Madness at the FTC, Part 2 - Truth on the Market
As I noted in my last post, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Sept. 20 that it had filed a complaint: against the three largest prescription drug benefit managers (PBMs)—Caremark Rx, Express Scripts (ESI), and OptumRx—and their affiliated group purchasing organizations (GPOs) for engaging in anticompetitive and unfair rebating practices that have artificially inflated the ... Antitrust at the Agencies: PBM Madness at the FTC, Part 2
The FTC Takes On Pharmaceutical Benefit Managers - Truth on the Market
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Sept. 20 that it was suing the three largest pharmaceutical benefit managers (PBMs)—Caremark Rx, Express Scripts (ESI), and Optum—alleging competition and consumer-protection law violations. This commentary provides information on controversies surrounding the economic effects of PBMs that led up to the suit. A follow-up commentary will assess the lawsuit ... The FTC Takes On Pharmaceutical Benefit Managers