Law Commons^™

Tacit Collusion On Steriods - The Tale On Online Price Transparency, Advanced Monitoring And Collusion, Maurice Stucke, Ariel Ezrachi

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Big Data And Competition Policy, Maurice Stucke, Allen Grunes

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

From the Publisher: Big Data and Big Analytics are a big deal today. Big Data is playing a pivotal role in many companies' strategic decision-making. Companies are striving to acquire a 'data advantage' over rivals. Data-driven mergers are increasing. These data-driven business strategies and mergers raise significant implications for privacy, consumer protection and competition law. At the same time, European and United States' competition authorities are beginning to consider the implications of a data-driven economy on competition policy. In 2015, the European Commission launched a competition inquiry into the e-commerce sector and issued a statement of objections in its Google …

Is Your Digital Assistant Devious?, Maurice Stucke, Ariel Ezrachi

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

Who wouldn’t want a personal butler? Technological developments have moved us closer to that dream. The rise of digital personal assistants has already changed the way we shop, interact and surf the web. Technological developments and artificial intelligence are likely to further accelerate this trend. Indeed, all of the leading online platforms are currently investing in this technology. Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Facebook’s M, and Google Assistant can quickly provide us with information, if we so desire, and anticipate and fulfill certain needs and requests. Yet, could they also reduce our welfare? Could they limit competition and transfer our wealth …

When Competition Fails To Optimize Quality: A Look At Search Engines, Maurice Stucke, Ariel Ezrachi

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

The European Commission’s Statement of Objections forms the latest addition to the ongoing debate on the possible misuse of Google’s position in the search engine market. The scholarly debate, however, has largely been over the exclusionary effects of search degradation. Less attention has been attributed to the dimension of quality – whether and how a search engine, faced with rivals, could degrade quality on the free side.We set out to address this fundamental issue: With the proliferation of numerous web search engines and their free usage and availability, could any search engine degrade quality?We begin our analysis with a review …

Online Platforms And The Eu Digital Single Market, Maurice Stucke, Ariel Ezrachi

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

Our submission to the U.K. House of Lords, Internal Market Sub-Committee is based on our joint research, which explores the effects Big Data and technology have on competition dynamics. It reviews the use of technology to facilitate collusion, conscious parallelism, and unilateral price discrimination as well as the effects of online and mobile platforms.Our submission addresses the following issues: • What role does data play in the business model of online platforms? • Can data-driven online platforms have excessive market power? • If so, how can they abuse this power? • If so, how does this happen and what effect …

Debunking The Myths Over Big Data And Antitrust, Maurice Stucke, Allen Grunes

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

What are the implications of Big Data on competition policy? Some argue little, if any, and offer several reasons why Big Data is a passing fad. We disagree.As we discuss, competition law can play an important role in maximizing the benefits of a data-driven economy, while mitigating its risks. Our aim here is to first address the competitive significance of Big Data and, second, take on ten myths downplaying Big Data’s antitrust significance.

No Mistake About It: The Important Role Of Antitrust In The Era Of Big Data, Maurice Stucke, Allen Grunes

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

Competition authorities in Europe (and to a lesser extent in other jurisdictions) are beginning to make data, its uses, and its implications for competition law, a key focus. Some, however, argue that competition law has a limited role to play in the era of big data. We respectfully disagree. Competition law will play an integral role to ensure that we capture the benefits of a data-driven economy while mitigating its associated risks.After outlining several implications of big data on competition policy, we address some of the myths about big data and competition law. These myths paint with a broad brush …

The Curious Case Of Competition And Quality, Maurice Stucke, Ariel Ezrachi

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

Alongside the consideration of price, competition authorities recognize that quality can be as, if not more, important in some markets. But as competition authorities also recognize, identifying the dimensions of competition important to many consumers is difficult. Even when these dimensions of quality are identified, measuring them represents additional challenges.To circumvent these challenges, competition authorities rely on several heuristics when assessing a merger’s, cartel’s or monopolistic restraint’s impact on quality. Often the heuristics work well for the competition authorities.Our paper, however, identifies several scenarios where these heuristics break down, when competition and quality are not positively correlated, and when an …

Crossing The Rubicon: Why The Comcast/Time Warner Cable Merger Should Be Blocked, Maurice Stucke, Allen Grunes

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

Comcast and Time Warner Cable say their proposed $45 billion merger would not raise prices -- and instead lead to real benefits -- for cable and broadband customers across the country.But, as we discuss, the deal raises serious concerns of a creeping monopolist and the ability of a powerful media buyer to harm rivals.

The Beneficent Monopolist, Maurice Stucke, Allen Grunes

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

In examining Comcast's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable (TWC), we assess three of the arguments Comcast likely will make to the Department of Justice and FCC. Comcast will likely argue that its acquisition of TWC is unlikely to lessen competition because: (a) the broadband market is becoming more competitive: Google has introduced Google Fiber in a number of markets, and mobile broadband offered by wireless providers like AT&T and Sprint is competitive with fixed broadband; (b) Netflix and traditional media companies have sufficient clout to negotiate with Comcast and the government should not intervene on their behalf; and (c) …

Looking At The Monopsony In The Mirror, Maurice E. Stucke

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

Although still a distant second to monopoly, buyer power and monopsony are hot topics in the antitrust community. Despite the increasing interest in monopsony and buyer power, relatively few cases have actually been brought. Given the relatively few antitrust cases, the legal standards for monopsony claims are less developed than for monopoly claims. In recent years, courts, competition agencies, and scholars in addressing monopsony begin with a simple premise: monopsony is the mirror image of monopoly. But as this Article contends, courts and agencies should be careful when importing monopolization standards for monopsony cases. What works for monopolization claims may …

The Implications Of Behavioral Antitrust, Maurice E. Stucke

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

Behavioral economics is now mainstream. It is also timely. The financial crisis raised important issues of market failure, weak regulation, moral hazard, and our lack of understanding about how many markets actually operate.

As behavioral economics (with its more realistic assumptions of human behavior) goes mainstream in academia and the business world, one expects lawyers and economists to bring the current economic thinking to the competition agencies. How should the competition agencies respond?

This paper examines how competition authorities can consider the implications of behavioral economics on four levels: first as a gap filler, i.e., to help explain “real world” …

Reconsidering Competition, Maurice E. Stucke

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

In light of the financial crisis and the empirical findings from behavioral economics, policymakers should reconsider the fundamental question: what is competition? Only in understanding competition can one understand what competition can or cannot achieve under certain circumstances.

This Article reexamines one premise of competition, namely the extent to which firms, consumers, and the government are rational and act with perfect willpower. In varying this assumption, this Article maps four scenarios of competition.

Competition authorities should revisit their conception of competition, including the underlying assumptions, to better understand the competitive dynamics in different industries. In engaging in this review, competition …

Reconsidering Antitrust's Goals, Maurice E. Stucke

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

Antitrust policy today is an anomaly. On the one hand, antitrust is thriving internationally. On the other hand, antitrust’s influence has diminished domestically. Over the past thirty years, there have been fewer antitrust investigations and private actions. Today the Supreme Court complains about antitrust suits, and places greater faith in the antitrust function being subsumed in a regulatory framework. So what happened to the antitrust movement in the United States?

Two import factors contributed to antitrust policy’s domestic decline. The first is salience, especially the salience of the U.S. antitrust goals. In the past thirty years, enforcers and courts abandoned …

Antitrust Review Of The At&T/T-Mobile Transaction, Maurice E. Stucke, Allen Grunes

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

In this Essay, we review AT&T Inc.’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA, Inc., under federal merger law, under the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission’s 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines, and with a focus on possible remedies. We find, under a rule of law approach, that the proposed acquisition is presumptively anticompetitive, and the merging parties in their public disclosures have failed to overcome this presumption. Next we find that under the Merger Guidelines, there is reason to believe that the transaction may result in higher prices to consumers under several different plausible theories. Finally, we turn …

Behavioral Antitrust, Maurice E. Stucke, Amanda P. Reeves

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

Competition policy is entering a new age. Interest in competition laws has increased world-wide, and the United States no longer holds a monopoly on antitrust policy. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, the question for competition authorities is whether and to what extent does bounded rationality, self-interest and willpower matter.

This article explores how the behavioral economics literature will advance competition policy. With increasing interest in the United States and abroad in the implications of behavioral economics for competition policy, this Article first provides an overview of behavioral economics. It next discusses how the assumption of rational, self-interested profit-maximizers …

Toward A Better Competition Policy For The Media, Maurice E. Stucke, Allen P. Grunes

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

It is difficult to formulate meaningful competition policy when there is a fierce debate over the current competitiveness of the media industry. After addressing the importance of the marketplace of ideas in our democracy, our article examines the current state of the media industry, including the response of traditional media to audience declines, the growth of new media, the impact of media consolidation (including its impact on minority and women ownership), and the role of the Internet. In response to recent calls for liberalizing cross-ownership rules to protect traditional media, our article outlines why conventional antitrust policy is difficult to …

Antitrust And The Marketplace Of Ideas, Maurice Stucke, Allen Grunes

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

Article provides an overview of the marketplace of ideas, its relevance to media mergers, and the current approach under the federal antitrust agencies' Horizontal Merger Guidelines. The article examines the legal support for the proposition that antitrust analysis of media mergers should be expanded to include the merger's impact on editorial competition. After finding legal support in the legislative history and Supreme Court decisions, the article explores the pros and cons of evaluating a media merger's impact on the marketplace of ideas, and asks whether this should be left to the FCC. The article concludes with several modest proposals as …