Farmers have won the right to repair—at least, if they own John Deere equipment. In July, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement requiring Deere to give farmers and independent repair shops access to the software, manuals, and other
Truth on the Market
Truth on the Market is a publication that focuses on the intersection of law and economics, particularly in areas such as competition law, regulatory policy, and institutional analysis. It often features in-depth discussions on legal frameworks governing markets, including topics like EU competition law, broadcasting regulations, sports governance, and the economic implications of legal rules. The content typically explores how legal institutions and economic principles interact to shape market behavior, enforcement challenges, and policy reforms. The publication serves as a platform for scholarly and policy-oriented analysis relevant to legal practitioners, economists, and policymakers interested in the economic dimensions of law.
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Location, Location, Litigation: The Antitrust Fight Over Private Listings
In the late 1800s, real estate agents gathered at local associations to exchange information about the homes they were trying to sell. The intuitive logic was that the best way to make a sale was to spread the word.…
Your Price May Vary: The FTC’s Personalized-Pricing Puzzle
A price that knows your name may be creepy. It may also be a bargain. That ambiguity sits at the heart of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) proposed enforcement policy statement on personalized pricing, which opens with a candid admission:…
‘The Use of Knowledge in Society,’ by Friedrich A. Hayek
The wealth and technological sophistication of modern society are readily apparent. Less visible, but no less remarkable, is its ability to coordinate the actions of billions of people who know almost nothing about one another’s circumstances.
Every day we make…
Fine Print for Every Price: The FTC’s One-Size-Fits-All Guidance
My first post at Truth on the Market—where I called myself a “Refugee from the FTC”—briefly discussed an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) published in the Federal Register by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under Chair…
A Fee Too Far: Merchants, Surcharges, and the War on Plastic
Earlier this summer, my family took a vacation to Ocean City, Maryland, where the boardwalk offered ice cream, souvenirs, and an unexpected lesson in payment economics. Every retailer we visited added a surcharge of at least 3% for credit-card payments…
Four Patents and a Time Machine: CareFirst and the Perils of Backdated Antitrust
Four patents can carry a lot of antitrust baggage—especially when they come tucked inside a portfolio of more than 500. In CareFirst of Maryland v. Johnson & Johnson, health insurer CareFirst alleges that Johnson & Johnson unlawfully acquired and later…
‘Deliberation as Self-Discovery and Institutions for Political Speech,’ by Catherine Hafer and Dimitri Landa
The We Are What We Read series is, in part, about what defines the field of law & economics. The field’s natural home lies in applications that are, well, economic. Hence its longstanding—and now standard—role in contracts, corporations, antitrust,…
Premium, Regular, or Collusive? Brazil’s Aprix Case Tests Algorithmic Pricing
Few antitrust investigations find their theory of harm laid out in the target’s sales brochure. Brazil’s investigation of Aprix, a startup that sells pricing software to gas stations, nearly managed the feat. One of the company’s promotional brochures introduced prospective…
Fiber Freeze: How Maple Grove Made a Cable Franchise the Price of Broadband
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Build America Agenda rests on a simple premise: Stop making it so hard to build. Federal and state policymakers have spent years reducing permitting delays, resolving pole-attachment disputes, and easing access to public rights-of-way—the public…