Talking free markets and #cronycapitalism. Based at Chicago Booth.
Follow our publication: promarket.org.
Podcast: capitalisnt.com
NEW on ProMarket:
Does Elon Musk’s Lawsuit Against OpenAI Have Merit?
Two professors of law - Dana Brakman Reiser and @AnupamChander assess the merits and questions raised by Musk’s recent lawsuit against #OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman.
https://www.promarket.org/2024/03/25/does-elon-musks-lawsuit-against-openai-have-merit/
NEW on ProMarket:
#ElonMusk recently sued #OpenAI over claims that the company has strayed from its social mission and has instead focused on profit maximization. Roberto Tallarita (Assistant Professor at Harvard Law School) examines how Musk’s lawsuit shows well-intentioned corporate planners how hard it is to commit to an effective and enforceable social purpose and warns policymakers that relying on corporate self-regulation of #AI could be a fatal mistake. https://www.promarket.org/2024/03/16/who-will-enforce-ais-social-purpose/
NEW: ProMarket student editor, University of Chicago student Surya Gowda, reviews @jkosseff's arguments for protecting the free marketplace of ideas despite the harms of misinformation in his new book “Liar in a Crowded Theater: Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation.” (@HopkinsPress)
https://www.promarket.org/2024/03/15/the-not-so-free-marketplace-of-ideas/
Nearly one in five American workers are affected by noncompete agreements, which prevent workers from working for or creating a rival firm. In new research, Axel Gottfries (The University of Edinburgh School of Economics) and Gregor Jarosch (Duke University) estimate that the Federal Trade Commission's proposed noncompete ban could raise wages by 4%. https://www.promarket.org/2024/03/14/the-ftcs-proposed-ban-on-noncompetes-could-raise-wages-by-4/
In his new book, Harvard Professor @jciv discusses the challenges of concentrated financial power and its impact on markets, economies, and society.
Listen to our interview with him on #Capitalisnt: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/review/capitalisnt-when-few-financial-institutions-control-everything#
In new research, Ga-Young Choi and Alex Kim show that tax audits work to deter firm tax avoidance but with unintended costs for investment and employment for the firm and the broader economy.
Critics of the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit last week to block the Kroger-Albertsons #merger claim that the agency incorrectly limits the relevant buyer-side market to unionized #grocery workers. @ssalop argues that the critics are wrong, and that standard #antitrust analysis shows the FTC has it right. https://www.promarket.org/2024/03/06/the-purchase-of-unionized-labor-is-a-relevant-buyer-side-market-in-the-kroger-albertsons-merger/
Our Faculty Director, Chicago Booth's Luigi Zingales argues that Elon Musk is right to sue OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, given the economic principles at stake. https://www.promarket.org/2024/03/05/why-musk-is-right-about-openai/
In new research, Monika Leszczyńska explores how consumers’ ideas of morality should inform government agencies and courts as they seek to update and enforce consumer protection laws. https://www.promarket.org/2024/03/04/consumer-protection-laws-need-an-update-to-combat-behavioral-manipulation-and-safeguard-privacy-in-the-digital-era/
A new podcast from Bethany McLean and Luigi Zingales, with me as guest:
Last was a feisty conversation with Steven Kaplan and Nell Minow on proxy voting rules, corporate governance, and more at the @stiglercenter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkpbz-xBfTA (10/10) #finance
@tomvalletti argues that economic consultants have made little meaningful contribution to antitrust policy and enforcement over the past 20 years—despite their assertions of bringing academic insights to practice. https://www.promarket.org/2024/02/28/what-have-the-consultants-ever-done-for-us/
Next was a whirlwind talk by Yishay Yafeh on regulating conglomerates at the @stiglercenter. Yafeh examines the approaches and outcomes in Imperial to postwar Japan and their zaibatsus, Korea's attempts at chaebol regulation, and Israel's conglomerates. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM9JowzhuiI (3/11) #economics #antitrust #history
First was an important talk by Daniel Crane and discussion from Liza Lovdahl Gormsen on monopolies and the rise of Nazism in Germany at the @stiglercenter. Crane provides deep historical context for the change in industrial cartel orientation towards the Nazi regime and their role in WW2 and beyond. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz4eYhy7I_I (2/3) #economics #antitrust #history
Next was a great talk by Thomas Piketty on capital, ideology, and inequality at the @stiglercenter. There's some good debunking of a lot of 1980s-era economic thinking during the discussion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FQ6c1iqnTs (8/9) #economics
Christian Bergqvist has identified 100-plus antitrust cases against Google spanning 23 jurisdictions and classifies them by the service in question and its alleged harms. Most of these fall within eight groups. Bergqvist’s analysis provides a picture of recent shifts in antitrust enforcers’ regulation of Big Tech and the potentially transformative consequences for Google and the entire tech industry..
Next was an extremely informative panel on the interaction between big business and politics in Latin America at the @stiglercenter with Aldo Musacchio and Ben Schneider. There's incredibly rich historical context here and how state owned and private conglomerates have influenced political development in the region and how successful companies have navigated shifting regimes. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GumuAyXPSHU (6/11) #economics #history #LatinAmerica
Why has antitrust enforcement declined in the US since the 1970s?
In this symposium, Jonathan Baker, Eleanor Fox, and Herbert Hovenkamp discuss the findings of Filippo Lancieri, Eric Posner, and Luigi Zingales’ new paper, “The Political Economy of the Decline of Antitrust Enforcement in the United States.” In this article, Posner responds to the discussants’ critiques and comments.
https://www.promarket.org/2024/02/16/big-business-influence-in-the-decline-of-antitrust-enforcement/
Last was an incredible discussion on anti-monopoly pressure groups throughout US history at the @stiglercenter with Mehrsa Baradaran, Eli Cook, and Luigi Zingales. This is an extremely rich conversation, getting into the racist history of banking antitrust, historical antitrust efforts and their effects/motivations, and more. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nokxeh1-MBs (8/8) #economics #antitrust #history #US
Business and economic thought instituted at least since the Reagan revolution in the United States have promoted firms’ narrowly self-interested, profit-maximizing conduct even at the expense of consumers and workers. This paradigm leads to social distrust and insufficient cooperation.
@ssalop explains this distortion and proposes 10 guidelines by which firms can self-moderate their behavior to produce prosocial outcomes.
