The Evolution of Antitrust Doctrine After \u3ci\u3eOhio v. Amex\u3c/i\u3e and the \u3ci\u3eApple v. Pepper\u3c/i\u3e Decision That Should Have Been

If the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Apple Inc. v. Pepper (Apple) had hewed to the precedent established by Ohio v. American Express Co. (Amex), it would have begun its antitrust inquiry with the observation that the relevant market for the provision of app services is an integrated one, in which the overall effect of Apple’s conduct on both app users and app developers must be evaluated. A crucial implication of the Amex decision is that participants on both sides of a transactional platform are part of the same relevant market, and the terms of their relationship to the platform are inextricably intertwined. We believe the Amex Court was correct in deciding that effects falling on the “other” side of a tightly integrated, two-sided market from challenged conduct must be addressed by the plaintiff in making its prima facie case. But that outcome entails a market definition that places both sides of such a market in the same relevant market for antitrust analysis. As a result, the Amex Court’s holding should also have required a finding in Apple that an app user on one side of the platform who transacts with an app developer on the other side of the market, in a transaction made possible and directly intermediated by Apple’s App Store, is similarly deemed to be in the same market for standing purposes. Under the proper conception of the market, it is difficult to maintain that either side does not have standing to sue the platform for alleged anticompetitive conduct relating to the terms of its overall pricing structure, whether the specific terms at issue apply directly to that side or not. Both end users and app developers are “direct” purchasers from Apple—of superficially different products, but in a single, inextricably interrelated market. Both groups should have standing and should be able to establish antitrust injury—harm to competition—by showing harm to either group, as long as they can establish the requisite interrelatedness of the two sides of the market. As we discuss, such a result would have been consistent with the way antitrust doctrine has long evolved—in both its substantive and its procedural aspects—to reflect new economic knowledge, particularly with respect to such “nonstandard” business models. I. Introduction ... A. Ohio v. American Express Co. and Apple Inc. v. Pepper: A Failure of Antitrust Doctrinal Evolution II. The Nexus Between Procedure and Substance in Antitrust Law ... A. Quick Look and the Evolution of the Standards of Antitrust Review ... B. The Interplay of Procedure and Substance in the Doctrines of Antitrust Standing ... 1. Antitrust Injury and Antitrust Standing ... 2. The Indirect Purchaser Doctrine III. Nonstandard Contracts and Antitrust Doctrine: Accommodating the Economics of Two-Sided Markets in Antitrust Procedure ... A. The Basic Economics of Two-Sided Markets ... B. Amex, Market Definition, and Effects Analysis ... 1. Implications for the Consideration of “Out-of-Market” Effects ... C. The Relationship Between Market Definition and Standing IV. The Court’s Failure to Incorporate the Economics of Two-Sided Markets in Its Apple Inc. v. Pepper Decision ... A. Campos v. Ticketmaster and the Error of Doctrinal Formalism ... 1. The Consequences of the Formalistic Application of Illinois Brick to New Business Models V. What the Proper Procedural Analysis in Apple Inc. v. Pepper Would Have Looked Like ... A. Procedure Does Not Determine Substantive Outcomes VI. Conclusio

DYNAMIC STRATEGIC INTERACTION: A SYNTHESIS OF MODELING METHODS

Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

A Critique of Computable General Equilibrium Models for Trade Policy Analysis

The paper will deal in turn with three sets of modelling issues: the question of 'data'; the 'micro' problem of specifying market behaviour, and the. 'macro' issue of 'closing' the models in aggregate. I will conclude with some suggestions for future research. The basic theme of the paper is this: CGE modelling is essentially a conservative or 'neoclassical' scientific endeavour, and exhibits the strengths and weaknesses of neoclassicism. And as for the recent injection of apparently nonneoclassical imperfect competition or industrial organization (IO) concepts into CGE, though, as an 10 specialist myself I certainly welcome this in principle, I have doubts about the usefulness of the practice.International Relations/Trade,

The Spatial Agent-based Competition Model (SpAbCoM)

The paper presents a detailed documentation of the underlying concepts and methods of the Spatial Agent-based Competition Model (SpAbCoM). For instance, SpAbCoM is used to study firms' choices of spatial pricing policy (GRAUBNER et al., 2011a) or pricing and location under a framework of multi-firm spatial competition and two-dimensional markets (GRAUBNER et al., 2011b). While the simulation model is briefly introduced by means of relevant examples within the corresponding papers, the present paper serves two objectives. First, it presents a detailed discussion of the computational concepts that are used, particularly with respect to genetic algorithms (GAs). Second, it documents SpAbCoM and provides an overview of the structure of the simulation model and its dynamics. -- Das vorliegende Papier dokumentiert die zugrundeliegenden Konzepte und Methoden des Räumlichen Agenten-basierten Wettbewerbsmodells (Spatial Agent-based Competition Model) SpAbCoM. Anwendungsbeispiele dieses Simulationsmodells untersuchen die Entscheidung bezüglich der räumlichen Preisstrategie von Unternehmen (GRAUBNER et al., 2011a) oder Preissetzung und Standortwahl im Rahmen eines räumlichen Wettbewerbsmodells, welches mehr als einen Wettbewerber und zweidimensionalen Marktgebiete berücksichtigt. Während das Simulationsmodell in den jeweiligen Arbeiten kurz anhand eines Beispiels eingeführt wird, dient das vorliegende Papier zwei Zielen. Zum Einen sollen die verwendeten computergestützten Konzepte, hier speziell Genetische Algorithmen (GA), detailliert vorgestellt werden. Zum Anderen besteht die Absicht dieser Dokumentation darin, einen Überblick über die Struktur von SpAbCoM und die während einer Simulation ablaufenden Prozesse zu gegeben.Agent-based modelling,genetic algorithms,spatial pricing,location model.,Agent-basierte Modellierung,Genetische Algorithmen,räumliche Preissetzung,Standortmodell.

Real Options Methodology Applied to the ICT Sector: A Survey

This survey focuses on the application of real options methodology to the information and communications technology (ICT) industries. It examines the development of the methodology to areas as diverse as wireless cell site investments to dynamic pricing issues. In addition to aiding the reader in understanding the breadth of the applications, it demonstrates the importance of the topic. It provides a guide to the reader who is interested in exploring the topic in greater depth.Discounted cash flow, economic methodology, information and communications technology (ICT), investment, investment under uncertainty, options, present discounted value, real options, valuations.

Finance Applications of Game Theory

Traditional finance theory based on the assumptions of symmetric information and perfect and competitive markets has provided many important insights. These include the Modigliani and Miller Theorems, the CAPM, the Efficient Markets Hypothesis and continuous time finance. However, many empirical phenomena are difficult to reconcile with this traditional framework. Game theoretic techniques have allowed insights into a number of these. Many puzzles remain. This paper argues that recent advances in game theory concerned with higher order beliefs, informational cascades and heterogeneous prior beliefs have the potential to provide insights into some of these remaining puzzles.

Finance Applications of Game Theory

Traditional finance theory based on the assumptions of symmetric information and perfect and competitive markets has provided many important insights. These include the Modigliani and Miller Theorems, the CAPM, the Efficient Markets Hypothesis and continuous time finance. However, many empirical phenomena are difficult to reconcile with this traditional framework. Game theoretic techniques have allowed insights into a number of these. Many puzzles remain. This paper argues that recent advances in game theory concerned with higher order beliefs, informational cascades and heterogeneous prior beliefs have the potential to provide insights into some of these remaining puzzles.

A new comparative approach to macroeconomic modeling and policy analysis

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the state of macroeconomic modeling and the use of macroeconomic models in policy analysis has come under heavy criticism. Macroeconomists in academia and policy institutions have been blamed for relying too much on a particular class of macroeconomic models. This paper proposes a comparative approach to macroeconomic policy analysis that is open to competing modeling paradigms. Macroeconomic model comparison projects have helped produce some very influential insights such as the Taylor rule. However, they have been infrequent and costly, because they require the input of many teams of researchers and multiple meetings to obtain a limited set of comparative findings. This paper provides a new approach that enables individual researchers to conduct model comparisons easily, frequently, at low cost and on a large scale. Using this approach a model archive is built that includes many well-known empirically estimated models that may be used for quantitative analysis of monetary and fiscal stabilization policies. A computational platform is created that allows straightforward comparisons of models’ implications. Its application is illustrated by comparing different monetary and fiscal policies across selected models. Researchers can easily include new models in the data base and compare the effects of novel extensions to established benchmarks thereby fostering a comparative instead of insular approach to model development