The pendulum swings. It swung in the direction of super-tight regulation of the nation’s banks during, and immediately after, the financial crisis of 2008. And now it is swinging in the opposite direction. President Trump and congressional Republicans, along with a handful of Democrats, have pushed through legislation that will ease the regulatory burdens imposed […]
It’s time for the government to reckon with what Facebook has become. “Believe me,” said – well, not really “said” but posted – Mark Zuckerberg. Raising Chico Marx’s old question, “Who are you going to trust, me or your lying eyes?” Trust me again even though your eyes have seen how I abused it in […]
Irwin Stelzer www.irwinstelzer.com 11/28/17 OPINION COMMENTARY No one should be surprised by the Justice Department’s attempt to block AT&T’s $85 billion bid to acquire Time Warner. Neither economic theory nor recent experience suggests there is anything novel about the antitrust theory underlying the government’s position. If one company exerts significant control over the means of […]
1-26-18 Well is it a monopoly . Photo credit (Big Stock Photo) In that wonderful movie Patton, George C. Scott’s title character imagines himself in a one-on-one tank battle with Field Marshal Erwin Rommel-the winner wins the war. Donald Trump, who hates the Washington Post and therefore its owner, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, may have […]
Irwin Stelzer www.irwinstelzer.com 2/7/18 So regulation is not always a bad idea after all. On Friday, her last day in office, Janet Yellen told Wells Fargo management that cheating millions of consumers has consequences. The bank that opened fake accounts, overcharged for auto insurance, and in other ways ignored the consequences of the incentives built […]
The organizers have advised me to craft a paper that is designed to stimulate discussion; one even advised me to es chew footnotes and other scholarly paraphernalia , which I have tried mightily but not entirely successfully to do. What I propose to do here is avail myself of what I understand to be the […]
Irwin M. Stelzer When Tom Campbell invited me to participate in this program, I hesitated. Antitrust economics is, after all, a subject that is less well regarded now than it has been — practiced by economists who, it is charged, would stifle the upward progress of the economy, prevent American firms from combining to compete […]
IRWIN M. STELZER This volume, the IEA reprints revised versions of twelve lectures in three areas where Dr. Stelzer is acknowledged as an expert – competition policy, regulation, and energy and environmental policy. He discusses the role of competition policy and the form it should take; the proper place of regulation in competitive and monopolised […]
The president’s attack on Amazon is the hallmark of an aspiring caudillo. But there are valid anti-trust concerns about the internet giant. President Trump’s use of the presidency to pursue a private vendetta with Amazon is appalling. But that doesn’t mean policymakers shouldn’t take a close look at the internet giant’s power and competitive tactics. […]
Uber comes along and ends the rainy days and nights of waving fruitlessly at cabs with flashing “off duty” signs, and governments respond to pressures from threatened incumbents by making life difficult or impossible for the welfare-enhancing newcomer. Amazon spares consumers the chore of driving to malls, picking through racks, and perhaps finding a tolerable […]