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617 338 AACG (2224)
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Session 1: Do We Need a Regulator for High-Tech Companies?
In the United States and in several other countries, more vigorous antitrust enforcement of major high-tech companies (most recently Google and Facebook) has received increasing attention in popular, business, and academic publications. In this webinar we present information from our recently published article, Ex Ante Regulation of Digital Platforms: Cautionary Tales from Telecommunications, which evaluates the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) regulatory measures in the presence of evolving technology and competitive conditions.
Topics include:
- Review of actions and proposals for increased high-tech regulation and antitrust enforcement
- Evaluation of specific measures the FCC implemented with the objective of promoting competition in existing and emerging markets
- Discussion of the lessons from the telecommunications experience for imposing similar measures on high-tech companies
Course Instructors:
Dr. Timothy Tardiff, Principal at Advanced Analytical Consulting Group, assists major regulatory authorities, attorneys and their clients with economic and statistical issues, with an emphasis on competition and antitrust issues. He has served as a consulting and expert witness in labor and competition matters in the United States and international jurisdictions, including for major telecommunications companies and regulatory authorities. Dr. Tardiff has frequently published articles in economics, antitrust, and telecommunications literature.
Prior to joining Advanced Analytical Consulting Group, Dr. Tardiff held research, teaching, and consulting positions at Huron Consulting Group, NERA Economic Consulting, Charles River Associates and the University of California, Davis, as faculty. He received a Ph.D. in Social Science from the University of California, Irvine and a B.S. in Mathematics, with honors, from the California Institute of Technology.
Dr. Mark Jamison is the Director and Gerald Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center (PURC) and Director of the Digital Markets Initiative (DMI) at the University of Florida. He provides research and International training on business and government policy, focusing primarily on information technology and utilities industries.
Prior to joining the University of Florida, Dr. Jamison was Manager of Regulatory Policy at Sprint, Head of Research for the Iowa Utilities Board, and Communications Economist for the Kansas Corporation Commission. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Florida and a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University.
Session 2: Antitrust Damages Beyond the Consumer-Based Standard?
Advocates of the New Antitrust are looking beyond maximization of consumer benefit (what economists call consumer welfare) as the goal of antitrust enforcement and related damages analysis. There are many alternative measures, some well-defined, some, more conceptual, including consideration of employee welfare in addition to consumer welfare, maximizing both consumer and producer surplus, increasing the number of competitors even if reducing consumer welfare, and maximizing the efficient amount of output to the point the price of the product equals the marginal cost of making it.
In this webinar we will explore how damages and tightly tied liability would be assessed under various forms of the New Antitrust.
We will use standard economic models to illustrate the concepts behind damage analyses based on several proposals of the New Antitrust.
Topics include:
- A brief graphical presentation of the goal of the current antitrust laws and the related damages analysis
- A description of various proposals for the New Antitrust
- Graphical analysis and damages approach for several New Antitrust regimes
- Some practical benefits and difficulties associated with measuring damages under these New Antitrust definitions
Course Instructors:
Craig Romaine, President of Triangle Economics, specializes in the economic analysis of antitrust issues in corporate litigation and mergers, as well as the theory and modeling of damages claims. He has extensive experience in the analysis of competition issues—particularly the competitive effects of mergers and acquisitions in their relevant markets, and the competitive effects of firm conduct. Mr. Romaine has served as an expert witness in antitrust litigation and has also served as a consulting expert supporting a wide variety of economic experts. He has managed the expert economic work on many large, complex antitrust matters.
His expertise extends to the evaluation and measurement of damages in a variety of contexts, including antitrust violations and breach of contract. Mr. Romaine has worked on matters in numerous different industries. A focus of his work has been the payment card industry, in which he has more than 20 years of experience. Mr. Romaine also works frequently in high-tech, where he has analyzed platform and multi-sided industries, Internet marketplaces, and industries characterized by indirect network effects.
Mr. Romaine is co-author with the late Professor Franklin Fisher on “Janis Joplin’s Yearbook and the Theory of Damages,” a well-known paper cited by experts, economists, and accountants.
Dr. Daniel S. Levy, National Managing Director of Advanced Analytical Consulting Group, has testified in state and federal court, and before regulatory agencies about antitrust and competition matters. He has studied competition and economic issues in many industries, including airlines, environment, oil and gasoline, healthcare, labor markets, pharmaceuticals, retail, telecommunications, and high technology markets among others. His work includes detailed analyses and valuations of corporate functions, risks, and assets for international corporations for use in business decision and litigation. He has testified for, and provided evidence before, the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Securities and Exchange Commission, Internal Revenue Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, various state and federal communications commissions and insurance commissions. He has performed studies of market power and ability of individual firms or cartels to alter market prices in legal proceedings, mergers analyses and corporate strategy.