The European Commission's proposed payments card legislation and the common position reached by the European Parliament in April 2014 will harm competition, innovation, and consumers if broadly endorsed by the European Council in the coming months. The interchange fee price caps will soften...

The cost to merchants of taking payment on debit cards declined by more than $7 billion annually as a result of the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, while the effective cost to issuers of providing debit card services to consumers...

This paper examines the evolution of the use of economics in EC competition policy matters and the reforms in the use of economics that occurred in the latter part of EC Competition Commissioner Mario Monti's term (1999-2004). Under his predecessors, the use of economics had been steadily...

There appears to be universal agreement that antitrust policy should "protect competition, not competitors" and that consumer welfare is the fundamental standard for evaluating competitive effects. There is considerable debate, however, about how to implement those principles in practice when...

Firms may be able to create new and improved products as a result of merging. These "demand-side efficiencies" should be considered by competition authorities in considering whether to allow a merger. Unlike reductions in costs that merged firms may not pass on to consumers, new and better...

Firms may be able to create new and improved products as a result of merging. These "demand-side efficiencies" should be considered by competition authorities in considering whether to allow a merger. Unlike reductions in costs that merged firms may not pass on to consumers, new and better...

The European Court of First Instance (CFI) rejected Microsoft's grounds for annulling the Commission's Decision that the software maker had abused its dominant position in computer operating systems by refusing to supply certain protocols for interoperating with rivals' computers and by tying...

This paper presents an overview of what economists can say about vertical constraints by multi-sided platforms at this stage in the development of our knowledge about the economics of these businesses. It describes the general procompetitive and anticompetitive uses of vertical restraints by...