Economics Research at the FTC: Information,Retrospectives, and Retailing

Individual Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cases invariably raise broad questions about consumers, markets, and effective enforcement policy. Recent consumer protection cases raise questions about information regulation. Horizontal merger enforcement has recently focused on retrospective analysis of mergers and the role of the retail sector in predicting the effects of manufacturer mergers. In this paper, we describe research by the FTCs Bureau of Economics that addresses these three areas. We argue that such research is well worth the agencys relatively small resource investment because it demonstrably contributes to more thoughtful policy analysis and better policy outcomes.     

Economics at the FTC: Pharmaceutical Patent Dispute Settlements and Behavioral Economics

Economics at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) supports both the competition and consumer protection missions of the agency. In this year’s essay we discuss two issues, one from each of the agency’s missions. First, we focus on intellectual property issues in pharmaceuticals. Specifically, we discuss the principal rationale for antitrust concerns about certain patent dispute settlements in the ethical drug industry. Then, we discuss consumer economics, our recent behavioral economics conference, and how behavioral economics influences our thinking about consumer policy.     

Economics at the FTC: Mergers,Dominant-Firm Conduct,and Consumer Behavior

Economists at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) pursue the agency’s competition and consumer protection missions. In this year’s essay, in antitrust, we discuss the new Merger Guidelines, three exclusion cases, and R&D issues in the Thoratec/HeartWare merger and the Google/AdMob merger. In consumer protection, we discuss the FTC’s new rule on debt settlement, our efforts to improve disclosures, and our recent work on appliance energy disclosures.     

Economics at the FTC: Retrospective Merger Analysis with a Focus on Hospitals

Economists at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) support the agency’s competition and consumer protection missions. In this year’s essay we discuss efforts at the FTC and elsewhere to examine empirically the competitive effects of mergers. This work has ranged from subjective interview-based reports on post-merger behavior to more objective analyses of post-merger performance based on rigorous empirical analysis of prices. In this essay we discuss the merger retrospective literature generally, and focus on the FTC staff’s recent empirical analyses of consummated hospital mergers.     

Economics at the FTC: Data Intensive Mergers and Policy R&D

Economics at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) supports both the competition and consumer protection missions of the agency. In this year’s essay we discuss a range of activities focusing on data-intensive antitrust cases in the hospital and consumer products industries. We also discuss our most recent work on gasoline pricing. Policy-focused research and competition advocacy takes center stage as we discuss some health care advocacy work in the administration of pharmaceutical insurance benefits and efforts to understand the real estate business more completely. Finally, we describe our efforts to quantify the extent of “identity theft”.     

Economics at the FTC: Deceptive Claims,Market Definition,and Patent Assertion Entities

In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) imposed common carriage regulation—so-called Title II requirements—on previously unregulated broadband Internet service providers. The regime shift was premised on the FCC’s findings that such rules had demonstrably yielded economic gains. This paper evaluates the FCC’s empirical arguments and finds them uncompelling. Adjustments for inflation or general economic trends eliminate the effects cited by the FCC. Moreover, contrary to the Commission’s assessment, mobile services and broadband markets have shown notable growth in response to deregulatory events that reduce Title II requirements.     

Economics at the FTC: Drug and PBM Mergers and Drip Pricing

Economists at the Federal Trade Commission pursue the agency??s competition and consumer protection missions. In this year??s essay, in antitrust, we discuss two recent mergers that involved Rx drugs: First, we describe key elements of the inquiry into the Express Scripts/Medco transaction in the pharmacy benefit management industry. Next, we analyze a merger that involved drugs that are used to treat patent ductus arteriosus: a condition that affects premature babies. On the consumer protection side, we discuss a pricing strategy??drip pricing??that involves the release of price information about a multi-part product over time as the consumer goes through the purchase process.     

Economics at the FTC: Multi-level Marketing and a Coal Joint Venture

Review of Industrial Organization - Economists in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics support the Commission’s dual missions of protecting consumers and maintaining...     

Economics at the FTC: Non-price Merger Effects and Deceptive Automobile Ads

Economists at the Federal Trade Commission analyze a wide range of activities, practices, and policies in support of the agency’s consumer protection and competition missions as demonstrated by the two economic analyses discussed in this article. The first section of this article describes the economic analysis of a proposed merger’s impact on non-price dimensions of competition in the daily fantasy sports market. The second section builds an economic model to quantify the harm to consumers from deceptive advertising in automobile markets.     

Economics at the FTC: Hospital Mergers,Authorized Generic Drugs,and Consumer Credit Markets

Economists at the Federal Trade Commission pursue the agency’s competition and consumer protection missions. In this year’s essay, in antitrust, we discuss various aspects of our hospital merger analyses as well as the effects of authorized generic drugs on consumers and competition. In consumer protection, we describe two ongoing studies on the use of credit-based insurance scores to price homeowners insurance, and the accuracy of consumers’ credit reports that are provided by credit bureaus.     

Economics at the FTC: Physician Acquisitions, Standard Essential Patents, and Accuracy of Credit Reporting

Economists at the Federal Trade Commission pursue the agency’s competition and consumer protection missions. In this year’s essay, with respect to antitrust we discuss the analysis that is used in two areas where the Commission has recently been active: physician combinations and standard essential patents. In consumer protection, we discuss the FTC’s recently released national study of the accuracy of consumer credit reports.     

抓住两条主线 全面提高马克思主义政治经济学的教学质量

如何提高教学质量是当前马克思主义政治经济学在新的历史条件下创新的关键所在。本文认为应当抓住两条主线,深化马克思主义政治经济学教学内容改革,是全面提高马克思主义政治经济学教学质量的有效途径。     

未来15年世界石油供需与价格走势分析

今后15年内世界石油资源问题不会影响石油供应的增长,石油供需将基本平衡,不会由于市场供不应求导致油价长时间、大幅度上涨。石油价格将基本与前10年的价格持平或略高,即18～20美元/桶,除个别年份外,上下浮动范围在4～5美元/桶以内。     

坚持质量兴企追求卓越绩效为全面提升集团公司的国际竞争力而努力--在2005年企业质量工作座谈会上的工作报告

2004年，是集团公司推进具有国际竞争力的跨国企业集团建设的重要一年，集团公司质量标准化计量丁作．认真落实集团公司统一要求和部署．积极推进质量管理各项重点工作，不断强化基础工作建设，认真履行质量监督管理职能，在推动企业质量管理升级、提高企业竞争能力、优化管理运行机制等方面做了大量工作。一年来，质量管理各项工作稳步推进，质量整体水平持续提高，集团公司主要质量指标完成情况持续稳定保持较高水平，多项质量工作创出新业绩，集团公司整体发展后劲进一步增强。     

供给侧改革背景下产业结构优化升级路径研究——以新疆为例

拉动经济增长的三驾马车消费、投资、进出口已经在改革开放的40年来带动我国经济快速增长,目前,经济已转入新常态下,产业结构需要调整。在供给侧改革的条件下产业结构不断调整已成为经济目标新的增长点。本文首先对供给侧以及产业结构理论做出前期铺垫,然后分析了新疆产业结构的现状,最后提出供给侧改革背景下新疆产业结构优化升级的路径选择。