The Year in Review: Economics at the Antitrust Division, 2006–2007

In this paper, we evaluate the scope of Chadwick’s claim on the superiority of competition for the market over competition in the market under incomplete information. We firstly characterize the expected outcome achieved under competition in the market at a Cournot Bayesian-Nash equilibrium. Then we characterize the optimal expected outcome achieved under a competition for the market mechanism designed by a government facing a shadow cost of public funds. We show that a regulated monopoly selected by an auction mechanism results in higher expected welfare than does duopoly competition when the entry cost is low but that the opposite holds when the market size is small and the entry cost is high for some values of the shadow cost of public funds. These results are explained by the influence of adverse selection on the entry decision at the Cournot equilibrium and by the level of expected total fixed costs in both mechanisms.      

The Year in Review: Economics at the Antitrust Division, 2005–2006

This paper covers the activities of the Economic Analysis Group (EAG) of the Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, during 2005–2006. It describes the economic analysis undertaken by EAG in several important investigations, appellate matters, and other activities as an advocate for competition.The views contained herein are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Department of Justice.     

Selected Economic Analysis at the Antitrust Division: The Year in Review

Of the many activitiesof the Antitrust Division of theU.S. Department of Justice, we havesummarized some that raise interestingeconomic issues. We describe recentimprovements in the methodology to beused in ``coordinated effects' analysisof mergers. We also discuss four casesbrought by the DOJ that raise issues ofmarket definition, the influence ofcommon partial ownership of competitors,and the effects of fringe suppliers inconstraining collusion by large firms.     

The Year in Economics at the FCC: A National Plan for Broadband

The past year in economics at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has focused on encouraging the adoption and deployment of high capacity Internet access and the associated networks, commonly termed “broadband.” Our article sketches important economic themes in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan to show how the application of basic principles of regulatory economics takes account of rapid technological change. We discuss natural monopoly regulation, externalities and cross-subsidies, network effects and interconnection, the allocation of scarce inputs, protecting and fostering competitive markets, and consumer protection and transparency as they apply to the development of broadband.     

Antitrust Versus Regulatory Merger Review: The Case of Electricity

This paper focuses on the implications of multi-agency review of electricity mergers. It highlights fundamental differences between regulatory and antitrust merger enforcement procedures–ranging from standards of review to data collection, economic analysis, and remedies. Such disparities potentially introduce costly and potentially conflicting redundancy into the merger review process. Illustrative examples are drawn from a number of cases, including apparent inconsistencies across applicant-filed analyses in FERC merger cases. Absent the delegation of competition analysis to the antitrust agencies, the paper makes the case for harmonizing review across regulators and antitrust enforcers.     

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.     

沧海横流 谁是真英雄?

经济大潮迭起的年代,怎能少得了迎风斗浪的商界人物?在中国机电行业,也有这么一批企业家,他们或高歌猛进、或低调潜行。正是因为他们及他们团队的不断进取,才推动了整个行业的发展、才成就了一段又一段的商业传奇。为了彰显这些进取者的业绩,为了给更多的企业家提供参考,中国机     

The Revival of Economics at the FTC in the 1960s

This paper examines the declining role of economists at the Federal Trade Commission between 1914 and 1960 and the subsequent growth in their role in the 1960s, including the unique role accorded the Chief Economist as advisor to the Commission and individual Commissioners. It discusses in detail five major contributions of the Bureau of Economics in the 1960s:(1) origins and evolution of a Line-of-Business Reporting Program; (2) contributions to a National Commission on Food Marketing; (3) report on Corporate Mergers; (4) affirmative Disclosure of the Octane Ratings of Gasoline; and (5) FTC Premerger Notification Programs.     

2000年电力板块回顾与展望

一、2000年电力板块回顾所以，2000年也是1998年以来电力(能源)板块表现比较活跃的一年，出现了不少股价翻番的个股，如凯迪电力、东方电子、思达高科、国电电力、粤电力、申能股份、岁宝热电、粤华电、乐山电力等等。究其原因主要可以分为四类：一是在大股东的支持下，进行较大力度重组的个股，如计划通过高配注入优质资产的国电电力，计划大量收购母公司优质资产的粤电力，以及大力向新能源、金融高科技领域拓展的申能股份；二是一些电力上市公司为了寻找新的利润增长点，同时也为了摆脱市盈率偏低的状况，纷纷调整产业结构，向高科技网…     

近期国际油价回顾与下半年走势分析

2011年上半年,在世界经济保持复苏势头、中东/北非地缘政治局势动荡、日本大地震等自然灾害频发的背景下,基金和机构投资者卷土重来,推动国际油价震荡上扬,并在高位区间波动。同时,WTI与Brent负价差、即期Brent和迪拜原油价差大幅拉宽。下半年,世界经济仍处于复苏轨道中,但复苏动力不足,陷入＂二次衰退＂的风险增大。同时美国推出第三轮量化宽松政策（QE3）的可能性增加,美元总体呈弱势。下半年,世界石油供需基本平衡,预计国际油价多数时间仍将呈现区间震荡走势,WTI和Brent原油均价低于上半年。三季度WTI与Brent和即期Brent与迪拜原油价差仍将保持宽水平,四季度将有所收窄。     

Economics at the Federal Communications Commission

This article reviews several issues confronted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the past year and discusses some of the economic analysis employed by the FCC in examining these issues. The article also identifies areas in which future academic research would be valuable to the agency.Thanks are due to Heather Dixon, David Fiske, Evan Kwerel, Jonathan Levy, and Larry White (the editor) for useful comments. The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the FCC, its staff, or commissioners.     

Economics at the Federal Communications Commission: 2006–2007

This article focuses on media ownership and spectrum auction design. These two issues have not only been particularly important at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the last year, but also are being informed by economic analysis either completed at the FCC or commissioned by the FCC.     

Antitrust and Sales-Below-Cost Laws: The Case of Retail Gasoline

Numerous states have sales-below-cost (SBC) laws, often directed at specific products such as gasoline. Potential violations of state SBC laws occur when prices are less than the seller's cost of doing business, or some proxy thereof. The most commonly stated purpose of these laws is to protect small independent firms from predation by larger firms. This study offers empirical evidence on the impact of SBC laws on the retail gasoline market. The result indicate that SBC laws directed specifically at the retail gasoline market have resulted in higher retail margins.     

The Impacts of an Antitrust Investigation: A Case Study in Agriculture

We analyze the impacts of an antitrust investigation on the purchasing practices of a buying collaboration and its common bidding agent. Using a repeated cross section of prices across procurement auctions that were and were not subjected to the investigation, we find that auction prices in the targeted auctions: (i) significantly increased as soon as the targets were made aware they were under investigation; (ii) remained higher as long as the investigation was open; and (iii) systematically declined to the same low pre-knowledge state after the closure of the investigation without prosecution. Finally, the counterfactual impact on auction prices by the removal of the common bidding agent and the demise of the buying collaboration at a later date was on par with the impacts of the investigation.