Dear readers, As previously announced, I am incredibly happy and honored to publish guest articles written by several of the world’s most renowned antitrust scholars every month of the year 2020. The one for March is authored by William E. Kovacic, Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy, George Washington University Law School; Visiting Professor, Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London; Non-executive...Read More
Dear readers, these past few weeks, I have been publishing videos in which I presented and explained the “The Theory of Granularity: A Path for Antitrust in Blockchain Ecosystems” (freely accessible on SSRN). This post puts them all in one place. Thank you for watching. Thibault. *** Video #1: Understanding the theory of the firm as used...Read More
Dear readers, here’s the fourth and final video of the series dealing with “The Theory of Granularity: A Path for Antitrust in Blockchain Ecosystems” (freely accessible on SSRN). I previously showed that antitrust law is based on Ronald Coase’s theory of the firm, that public blockchains escape that theory, and that, accordingly, a new theory is needed. I now want...Read More
Dear readers, As previously announced, I am incredibly happy and honored to publish guest articles authored by some of the world’s most renowned antitrust scholars every month of the year 2020. The one for February has been written by Daniel A. Crane, Frederick Paul Furth Sr. Professor of Law at the University of Michigan, and it explores the topic of “Democracy and Monopoly in...Read More
The background story It all started on Wednesday, February 12, 2020. ALL? The (first) Google hearing, of course. It has been a long wait, but hopefully worth it. Previously on the Google Saga, the European Commission has announced the decision (in June 2017), has published it (in December of the same year), and ever since, has fined Google two more times. An...Read More
I am pleased that my article entitled “The Fundamental Unimportance of Algorithmic Collusion for Antitrust Law” as just been published at the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology website. Here’s the introduction: Antitrust and competition law is subject to increasing polarization, especially regarding Internet giants. Some scholars argue that the tech giants abuse their dominant positions,...Read More
Dear readers, following a first video (link) in which I exposed the theory of the firm as used in antitrust law, and a second one (link) in which I explained that, by escaping that theory, public blockchains escape antitrust law, I am pleased to publish a third video today. In it, I explain what the theory of granularity is. It will serve...Read More
Dear readers, following last week’s video (link) in which I exposed the theory of the firm as used in antitrust law, I am discussing today the reason, by escaping that theory, public blockchains escape antitrust law. Again, for more information, you may read my article entitled “The Theory of Granularity: A Path for Antitrust in Blockchain Ecosystems“(freely accessible on SSRN)....Read More
Dear readers, I am pleased to introduce a new series of videos in which I will discuss the main ideas developed in my recent article entitled “The Theory of Granularity: A Path for Antitrust in Blockchain Ecosystems“(freely accessible on SSRN). Here’s video #1, dealing with the theory of the firm. Thanks for watching. Read More
Dear readers, I am incredibly happy and honored to introduce a new series in which, every month of the year 2020, I will publish guest articles written by several of the world’s most renowned antitrust scholars. These posts are covering topics of their choice, the only constraint being that the writing must be original, and adopt a more relaxed tone than...Read More
Dear friends, Following months of (d̶o̶u̶b̶t̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶b̶u̶s̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶h̶e̶a̶d̶) research, I am very pleased to share my latest article: “The Theory of Granularity: A Path for Antitrust in Blockchain Ecosystems“. In this article, I ask the following question: how to apply antitrust law, whose case law is almost entirely based on analyzing firms’ practices,...Read More
As in previous years (see 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018), here are the world’s most downloaded antitrust articles of 2019 on SSRN. ************ 1. Collusion by Blockchain and Smart Contracts by Thibault Schrepel Harvard Journal of Law and Technology (3.473 downloads) Blockchain may transform transactions the same way Internet altered the dissemination and nature of information. If that were...Read More
This post is a response to John’s response to my post entitled “Why you are not paying with your data” (that’s confusing!). I am publishing it on December 27th to make sure that John is away and can’t criticize it further (< machiavellian laughter >). To be fair, John has already received these comments, and in any...Read More
In a world in which competition agencies would always rely on empirical evidence, I would be teaching the following to my students: when agencies investigate potential abuses of dominant positions, they are required to show (1) a dominant position, (2) an abuse and (3) a link (causation) between the alleged dominant position and the alleged abuse....Read More
Conferences are full of buzz words and gimmicks. In 2019, two of them are trending: “data is the new oil”, and… “you are paying with your data”. The first has been debunked by my friend Alec Stapp, see here. Let me now discuss the second one by asking you a few questions. Would you say that… you...Read More
