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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Donna, Javier; Walsh, Anita |
| Abstract: | n 2020, an antitrust lawsuit was filed against the Pork Integrators alleging a §1 Sherman Act violation. At the center of the Lawsuit, there is an alleged exchange of atomistic information about the Pork integrators’ operations using Agri Stats, Inc. as a clearinghouse. We use the Supreme Court benchmark in American Column & Lumber to discuss two questions that arise from the Lawsuit. The first is whether the association of Pork Integrators and Agri Stats, Inc., resulted in the restraint of interstate commerce, the main specific issue at stake in the pork Lawsuit. The second is whether information-exchange agreements using clearinghouses like Agri Stats, Inc., lessen competition and offend U.S. antitrust law, a more general issue beyond the pork Lawsuit. We find that there appears to be ample evidence in the Lawsuit to merit prosecution regarding both trade restraints and information-sharing agreements. We conclude by discussing the role of the Agencies in setting the standards in information-exchange agreements. |
| Keywords: | antitrust, price-fixing, competition, information sharing, cartel, pork industry |
| JEL: | K21 L12 L13 L41 L42 L66 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:121649 |
| By: | Broere, Mark; Christmann, Robin |
| Abstract: | Crowdfunding as a part of micro-finance has received considerable attention from the public and among researchers, both due to its novel form of collecting funds and the emergence of fraud and misconduct to the disadvantage of lay backers. We develop an adverse selection model of reward-based crowdfunding that introduces Bertrand-style competition between campaign owners. We find that the traditional result in the literature about successful separation of high-type and low-type creators does no longer hold when accessible information about quality becomes less reliable and the market for the high-quality product grows. Under certain conditions, we also observe an instability in competition where campaign owners randomize between withdrawing to a certain market niche and price competition. All this gives rise to fraud in equilibrium. In this perspective, crowdfunding scams resemble a bet on market demand and are often able to evade liability. We then discuss specific remedies and provide insights for platform policy and regulation. |
| Keywords: | adverse selection; price competition; reward-based crowdfunding; fixed funding; enforcement |
| JEL: | G14 G18 K42 |
| Date: | 2024–08–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:121784 |
| By: | Natali, Ilaria |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically assesses the impact of laws restricting access to opioid painkillers and shows how local economic conditions matter for the magnitude of responses to these policies. By using a di˙erence in di˙erences (DiD) approach, I first estimate the causal impact of a new regulation that forbids over-the-counter (OTC) sales of Codeine-containing drugs. I then exploit a triple di˙erence (TD) strategy to evaluate possible heterogeneous responses across French departments. Using OpenHealth monthly data on Codeine product sales in 2017 for the 94 de-partments of Metropolitan France allows me to verify the parallel trend assumption validity. I find that the new law proved e˙ective in reducing Codeine consump-tion, but departments in economic disadvantage exhibit smaller decreases in con-sumption following its implementation. Hence, high-poverty departments are more ‘regulatory-inelastic’. This shows that demand-side factors can contribute to ampli-fying or hindering the e˙ect of supply-side interventions. Substitution e˙ect analysis finds an increase in non-opioid analgesic use after the new law in wealthy depart-ments relative to poor departments, but no significant substitution towards the black market. Results suggest that increased barriers to access should move in parallel with additional measures addressing the most deprived local communities. |
| Keywords: | Drug Regulation; Economic Opportunity; Codeine; France. |
| JEL: | I11 I14 I15 I18 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:129684 |
| By: | Brian Callaci (Open Markets Institute); Matthew Gibson (Williams College and IZA); Sérgio Pinto (University of Maryland at College Park and Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), DINAMIA’CET); Marshall Steinbaum (University of Utah); Matt Walsh (Lightcast) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the nationwide impact of the Washington State attorney general’s 2018-2020 enforcement campaign against no-poach clauses in franchising contracts, which prohibited worker movement across locations within a chain. Implementing a staggered difference-in-differences research design using Burning Glass Technologies job vacancies and Glassdoor salary reports from numerous industries, we estimate a 6 percent increase in posted annual earnings from the job vacancy data and a 4 percent increase in worker-reported earnings. |
| Keywords: | Employer market power, oligopsony, monopsony, franchising chains, antitrust, wages, salaries |
| JEL: | J42 K21 L40 J31 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:24-405 |
| By: | Perez-Vincent, Santiago M.; Puebla, David |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of procedural justice and sanctions on police legitimacy in a middle-income context using a between-subjects vignette experiment among civilians and police officers in Honduras. The scenarios involved civilian--police interactions following a minor infraction, varying in whether the police officer treated the civilian respectfully or disrespectfully, and whether a sanction (fine) was imposed. Respectful treatment increased satisfaction, acceptance of decisions, and willingness to cooperate, while sanctions had the opposite effects on these variables. Sanctions lowered the perceived likelihood of repeating the infraction, whereas respectful treatment had no effect on it. Results were similar for civilians and police officers, though officers assigned greater importance to procedural justice. The study concludes that, while sanctions deter repeated infractions, they can erode legitimacy if not applied respectfully, highlighting the importance of procedural justice in civilian--police interactions. The positive impact of procedural justice among both civilians and officers perceptions supports the desirability and feasibility of its application in this context. |
| Keywords: | Keywords: procedural justice;legitimacy;police;vignettes;Central America;honduras |
| JEL: | K20 H11 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13626 |
| By: | Lancieri, Filippo Maria; Valleti, Tommaso |
| Abstract: | We discuss the design of an effective merger review policy for the 21st century. We argue that the practice of the past decades is inadequate and propose a move towards much stronger rebuttable structural presumptions. These presumptions establish that all mergers above certain thresholds are illegal unless the merging parties can prove that merger-specific efficiencies will be shared with consumers and yield tangible welfare gains. These presumptions are grounded on solid economics and also acknowledge the real-world limitations in enforcement resources and information asymmetries between companies and regulators. We outline how to establish such presumptions in practice, defending the implementation of an ex-ante system that selects in advance (rather than per transaction) which companies and markets are subject to the presumption. Finally, we outline which merger-related efficiencies can rebut the presumption. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cbscwp:302563 |
| By: | Julia M. Puaschunder (Columbia University, USA) |
| Abstract: | Space travel has a long history throughout the 20th century. Outer space exploration started with governmental endeavors in the 1950s and 1960s. During the cold war era, the so-called ‘space-race’ between the United States and the former Soviet Union led to major direct discoveries and accomplishments in outer space but also entailed indirect positive effects on the economy and society. Through the turn of the millennium, a new phenomenon started with a shift of former governmental space travel to offering private space experiences. In the most recent years, there has been a rapid advent of commercialized space travel options, which are expected to rise in scale and scope in the future. Privatized space travel has many short-term, medium-term and long-term advantages ranging from innovation sparking economic growth, first-mover advantages as well as leadership establishment. Conquering outer space on private sector tickets, however, may also entail various costs, risks and disadvantages that may or may not be obviously noticeable. For instance, in the short-term horizon, space travel is still a highly risky activity that can lead to fatal accidents and serious long-term health impairments. In the medium-term, space contamination and pollution have been reported as worrisome developments, which will exacerbate if space travel becomes commercialized and affordable to the global masses. The commercialization of space travel is also a legal and regulatory lacuna that bears risks of unforeseen political tensions, environmental degradation and human-ecosystem unbalancing. This article strives to inform a broad range of space travel stakeholders – like politicians, regulators, global governance executives but also non-governmental, private sector actors – about potential opportunities as well as risks of commercialized space travel. The article is organized as follows: An introduction will briefly touch on the historical advent and preliminary attempts to regulate and control space travel as well as economic problems arising to classify space as a common good. The theoretical part will give a snapshot of the history of space law from an international law perspective with reference to similar cases, such as the law of the sea. The empirical analysis will offer a first attempt to conduct a law & economics cost-benefit analysis with discounting different time perspectives for space travel benefits and costs. The discussion closes with a prospect of future research opportunities on the law and economics of commercialized space travel. |
| Keywords: | behavioral economics, commercialization, commercialized space travel, common goods, cost-benefit analysis, discounting, law & economics, Liability Convention, Moon treaty, outer space, Outer Space Treaty, private sector, public sector, Registration Convention, space, space travel |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0364 |