Media of communication present challenges to regulators and antitrust analysts. While it has become traditional to view media as "platforms" that support "multi-sided markets," it is far from clear that media markets for inputs and outputs are usefully treated as belonging to a new and unique...

This paper deals with two related subjects. The first is the past failure of economic analysis to trigger elimination of welfare-reducing public policies affecting the older mass media technologies, such as broadcasting. The second is some speculation about future policy issues that may continue...

The contemporary notion of "Internet neutrality" is a version of the age-old regulatory policy of establishing a "common carrier." Net neutrality policies could only be implemented through detailed price regulation, an approach that has generally failed in the past to improve consumer welfare...

Economists have long recognized that certainty of contract is essential to a healthy economy. Long-term forward contracts, in particular, help reduce financial risk. Those contracts can only accomplish that goal, however, if parties know the contracts will be enforced. From an economic and...

Apparent ignorance of more than a century of economic history now threatens the competitive constitution of the Internet under the guise of "net neutrality." Net neutrality is a slogan that stands for the proposition that the Internet and physical means of access to it should be available to all...

This paper reviews China's recent efforts to enact a competition policy (antitrust) law. We focus on three issues: (1) What is the substance of the proposed law, and how does it differ from existing antitrust law in other countries, (2) How will the law be implemented or enforced, and how will...

In 2003 the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) proposed modest relaxation of its media ownership concentration rules; the proposal aroused heated political opposition and has been partially overturned by Congress and stayed pending appellate review. The purpose of this paper is quite narrow:...

This paper reports on recent developments in Latin American competition (antitrust) policy from the perspective of the role competition policy in supporting market reform. Competition policy is an instance of the use of law to influence economic behavior. More than eighty nations have enacted...