Previous studies (e.g., by Sam Peltzman) reveal powerful share-value effects of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) actions against firms for allegedly false advertising. Curi- ously, however, when the FTC announces an investigation but simultaneous settlement of the case with the advertiser, no...

Previous studies (e.g., by Sam Peltzman) reveal powerful share-value effects of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) actions against firms for allegedly false advertising. Curiously, however, when the FTC announces an investigation but simultaneous settlement of the case with the advertiser, no...

The past generation of antitrust has witnessed much intellectual competition among economists and competition-minded jurists as to what that body of law is supposed to do. The current antitrust generation has seen a pronounced shift in favor of the economic view of antitrust's role, to the...

Economists study various problems referred to as "market failure" - situations that, at least potentially, justify government intervention to solve them. Externalities (or "social costs") are viewed as perhaps the greatest market failure problems. The externality issue has also occasioned much...

Twenty-seven years ago I took my law-school antitrust course, from a fledgling assistant professor who had just left the Federal Trade Commission. My performance was adequate, earning one of the better grades in the course, but not spectacular. Unspectacular enough that afterwards the professor...

Previous studies (e.g. by Peltzman and Mathios-Plummer) reveal powerful share‐value effects of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) actions against firms for their advertising. Curiously, however, Mathios‐Plummer finds that when the FTC announces an investigation but simultaneous settlement of the...