These views are mine alone, but they should be yours, too.
It’s completely normal to think of a 42-year-old political essay when discussing surgical masks with one’s spouse, right? Well, everyone is scared right now, particularly with so much uncertainty about the effects that quarantining indefinitely will have on the economy, and adding nastiness and shaming and smug superiority to the fear seems really inappropriate, if not wholly unhelpful. (Keep reading)
Yesterday, I sent my post on the antitrust implications of an agreement between BMW, Ford, Honda, Volkswagen, and the State of California to John Newman, my former Antitrust Law professor to whose recent column in The Atlantic on the agreement I was critiquing, and he graciously responded. As I said initially, I was pretty sure the conclusion in John’s syllogism was correct, but I stand by my claims that mere altruism isn’t (and shouldn’t be) what controls when it comes to measuring the impact of anti-competitive conduct on consumer welfare. (Keep reading)
One of my former law professors is undoubtedly correct in his positive statements of antitrust law. Where I part ways with him in considering whether it should apply to an agreement between BMW, Ford, Honda, Volkswagen, and California to develop greener cars is that I am not persuaded that the agreement will promote consumer welfare. (Keep reading)