Competition policy uses economic analysis to enhance our understanding of how firm behavior affects social welfare. Scholars featured on this site consider how technology markets function, and the special issues raised by networks, platforms, interoperability, and bundling by firms like Google, Apple, and Microsoft.
In this opinion piece written for The Washington Post, Columbia law professor Tim Wu argues that Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram in 2012 never should have been given the okay by antitrust regulators. Professor Wu emphasizes: “It’s not too late to create a meaningful check on the power of Mark Zuckerberg’s company.”
"The merger will in fact harm consumers and the harm is significant in terms of the dollar amount." — Carl Shapiro, Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley
"Any way you count it, the result is a grand and easily predictable reduction in effective competition. This is what most clearly justifies Justice’s opposition to the merger." — Tim Wu, Professor of Law, Columbia University
"If the standard narrative is that because the Republicans are in town, Simons is not going to do anything, he will really surprise people." — William Kovacic, Professor of Law, George Washington University
This article tells the story of survival in the age of Facebook. "Facebook has grown at a pace and had an impact that it’s really hard to say anybody planned. It isn’t just a mere commercial platform. It’s a place that people are turning to to get their sense of what’s going on in the world. That’s a combination that should be carefully navigated. It would be awfully strange, back in the day, if the Yellow Pages rearranged themselves every other day." — Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law, Harvard University
"The issue of innovation is an important one. Satellite TV and cable companies face a significant challenge from Netflix. The cable TV providers are on the ropes as they face the innovators Netflix and Amazon.com." — Nicholas Economides, Professor of Economics, New York University
"This signals an active Justice Department, and that can’t be great news for a company like Facebook, which has a pretty well-known reputation for wiping out its competitors." — Tim Wu, Professor of Law, Columbia University
"It’s an ‘open the champagne bottles’ moment for AT&T. They can just tell people to pony up." — Tim Wu, Professor of Law, Columbia University
"The Justice Department cannot block the transaction unless they do so on grounds that are well established in merger jurisprudence. They would need a principled basis to stop the deal." — William Kovacic, Professor of Law, George Washington University
"Even if nothing else takes place, a consequence of this kind of intervention, so visible and so significant, has been to give other firms more room to maneuver." — William Kovacic, Professor of Law, George Washington University
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UC Berkeley economics professor Carl Shapiro argues that the Federal Trade Commission’s withdrawal of its 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines relies on specious economic arguments regarding elimination of double marginalization.
January 21, 2022
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25th Annual BCLT/BTLJ Symposium - The Emergent Right to Repair
April 22, 2022, Berkeley, CA
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Fact Sheets
The laws that set the ground rules prohibiting firms from engaging in anti-competitive practices are usually called “antitrust laws” in the United States, and “competition laws” in Europe and other regions. These laws differ among nations, and each country enforces its laws independently.
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Featured Article
In June of 2018, United States District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled that government failed to provide enough evidence to enjoin the merger of AT&T with Time Warner.
June 13, 2018
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