tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5404820640426099135.post280045640382573126..comments2023-10-31T00:46:35.316+13:00Comments on Anti-Dismal: The next big thing in anti-trust?Paul Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13731003529546075700noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5404820640426099135.post-19129750873059143562009-07-29T21:11:05.489+12:002009-07-29T21:11:05.489+12:00Google like Microsoft, then can we expect a big co...Google like Microsoft, then can we expect a big court case, lots of publicity, a high profile decision, then, following very large sums of money being transferred under the table to the "right" politicians, absolutely no attempts being made to ever enforce those decisions.Ed Snacknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5404820640426099135.post-3393326901421045172009-07-29T18:45:19.996+12:002009-07-29T18:45:19.996+12:00"Can you find an example of anti-trust regula..."Can you find an example of anti-trust regulation or lawsuit that produced an unambiguous increase in total welfare?"<br /><br />No. End of story.Paul Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13731003529546075700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5404820640426099135.post-3645673176806442692009-07-29T15:18:44.185+12:002009-07-29T15:18:44.185+12:00Here's a challenge.
Can you find an example ...Here's a challenge. <br /><br />Can you find an example of anti-trust regulation or lawsuit that produced an unambiguous increase in total welfare?<br /><br />Which is to say that it did more than shift surplus away from producers to consumers, but actually solved a competition problem from which innovation and price cuts followed, that would otherwise have seen stifled competition continue.<br /><br />Perhaps the question is unfair, because it is so hard to measure welfare in a dynamic market, and because the counterfactual is never observed. But I also think that a) genuine, large and persistent failures of competition are hard to find, leaving little room for regulators to add value, and b) regulators seems to focus on the thing that matters little in dynamic markets: price. But when technology is changing the source of welfare improvements is largely if not overwhelmingly in improvements in quality and functionality. getting 5% off your mobile service is small beer compared to the value of having a mobile.<br /><br />There is no question at all in my mind that competition regulators destroy value - but is it possible to find one-off examples where plainly they did add value? The 1984 AT&T breakup is a somewhat obvious example - although I am doubtful because a) it was a vertical breakup b) it coincided with other deregulation and technology improvements that occurred anyway. Jerry Hausman claims mobile phone technology was viable in the 1970s and but for stifling regulation would have been introduced then. Missing markets like that very quickly overwhelm any static benefits regulators might like to think they bring.matt bnoreply@blogger.com