Marshall Steinbaum

Marshall Steinbaum is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Utah and Senior Fellow in Higher Education Finance at the Jain Family Institute.

Missing the Forest for the Trees: A Reply to Hovenkamp and Shapiro

The Federal Trade Commission’s now-abandoned 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines were not some ideal economic document that the FTC foolishly disregarded; rather, they...

Antitrust as Economic Stimulus

By attacking power imbalances, competition policy can steer income to workers and independent merchants who are more inclined to spend than monopoly...

Policy Failure: The Role of “Economics” in AT&T-Time Warner and American Express

The recent AT&T and Amex decisions showcase the pitfalls of considering antitrust cases solely on the basis of economic analysis and may have the...

Antitrust in the Labor Market: Protectionist, or Pro-Competitive?

Redirecting antitrust enforcement to confront monopsony power would be a substantial departure from the way it has been conducted in recent decades, but just...

Monopsony Takes Center Stage

Bringing the powerful weapons the federal competition authorities have to bear on the problem of monopsony would be a substantial, but necessary departure from recent...

One Happy Byproduct of 2016: An Overdue Tax Policy Debate

Rich people are much richer than they used to be in large part because they pay much less tax than they used to. This—not...

What Role for Antitrust in the Era of Rising Inequality? The Importance of Power in Supply Chains

Concentration of power in supply chains is a prime mechanism by which dominant companies consolidate power and profits. The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was...

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The Convoluted Regulatory Regime for M&A Assessments in the US

What happens when the goals of antitrust enforcers clash with regulators focused on issues of national security and public interest? A forthcoming book by Ioannis Kokkoris, Public Interest Considerations in US Merger Control, explores these tensions in the United States regulatory framework.

Was Microsoft’s “Polluted Java” a presumptively legal improved product design?

Section 2 defendants often interpret the holdings of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in U.S. v...

Income Inequality May Worsen the Spread of Infectious Disease

Income inequality may exacerbate the spread of infectious diseases. In a new paper, Jay Bhattacharya, Joydeep Bhattacharya, and Min Kyong Kim examine the relationship between income inequality and the incidence and prevalence of tuberculosis across countries.

The Classic Theory of Albert O. Hirschman Argues Against the US Chamber’s Case for Non-Competes

Drawing on the theory of Albert O. Hirschman’s  Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, Brian Callaci argues non-compete clauses stifle the important channels of communication between employees and businesses necessary for improving firm competitiveness. The evidence also shows that, despite claims from businesses, non-competes harm rather than reward employees for their loyalty. 

AI For the Antitrust Regulator

Cary Coglianese lays out the potential, and the considerations, for antitrust regulators to use machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms.

Creation over Time in Copyright and Patent

On May 18, the United States Supreme Court decided two intellectual property cases with two seemingly different results. A closer look, however, reveals a complimentary concern with the monopolistic power of first movers and how the legal system should enable innovation from second movers over time, writes Randy Picker.

ESG Standards’ Good, Bad and Ugly

The Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State hosted a virtual event discussing the standards, metrics and disclosures of investments focused on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals. The following is a transcript of the event.