This week, the University of Chicago’s Stigler Center hosted its annual Antitrust and Competition Conference featuring top economists, lawyers, and thinkers focusing on competition and public policy. Over the course of two days, a few key themes emerged: —Current antitrust laws are equipped to deal with a changing economy and protect against politically driven excesses; […]

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Since Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes’ op-ed in the New York Times, a chorus of experts have made it clear that breaking up tech companies is an extreme response that is bad for consumers and businesses alike. These experts counter Hughes with three key points: —Tech companies face a highly competitive marketplace that is changing rapidly; […]

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Despite the rhetoric of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes’ New York Times op-ed, his arguments should be considered alongside the comments of antitrust and competition experts, who have noted two key points: —Where Hughes sees no alternatives to Facebook, the reality is that consumers have a dynamic set of options, with product innovation driven by competition. […]

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Last week, the Department of Justice hosted a workshop to discuss competition in television and digital advertising. Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Makan Delrahim kicked off the workshop with a keynote speech, in which he pointed out that “ad-supported business models bring goods and services to customers who would otherwise be priced out” and “studies […]

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While a handful of  policymakers have made similar comments to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Massachusetts) proposal to “break up big tech, University of Pennsylvania law professor and antitrust expert Herbert Hovenkamp makes a strong argument for why these proposals could backfire, harming consumers and labor. Hovenkamp warns, “Although the proposals sound simple, they mask complex issues […]

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Last week, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Roger Alford spoke to the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan on antitrust policy and the history of cooperation between Japan and the United States with regard to competition enforcement. Notably, Deputy AAG Alford pointed out that “if a firm becomes successful by making products or services that consumers […]

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In an opinion for the Guardian, King’s College lecturer Nick Srnicek argues that leading tech services should be treated as public services — either nationalized and operated by the government or regulated as closely as gas or electricity providers. Considering leading tech services are nothing like utilities, Srnicek’s proposal would benefit from a review of […]

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Calls to break up today’s top tech companies rely on a flawed assumption that the tech sector is static. As a post in Truth on the Market points out, nearly every prediction of a company as an “unassailable monopoly” has been wrong: Palm, AOL, MySpace, Barnes & Noble, and Blockbuster were all deemed unstoppable at […]

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Yesterday, Penn Law professor and antitrust expert Herbert Hovenkamp published an opinion in The Regulatory Review addressing Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s recent call for the “break up” of leading tech services. As Hovenkamp notes, “Senator Warren’s proposals seek to protect older technologies at the expense of consumers and workers.” More on his arguments below. Monopolies are […]

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Last week, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) unveiled a proposal to “break up Big Tech.” Her proposal has been met with swift criticism from startup investors, experts, academics, and tech industry influencers saying that the proposal would: —Do more harm than good; —Stifle competition and set arbitrary thresholds; —Lead to increased prices; —And not solve the issues […]

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