So Google has just bought Mobile handset maker Motorolo Mobility (see announcement on the Google blog), a move that sees Google vertically integrating into phone hardware. My initial reaction to this was a worry that by vertically integrating to compete against Apple, this might discourage non-integrated phone makers (such as Sony, Samsung and HTC) from …
Category Archive: Antitrust
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/08/16/google-buys-motorola-vertical-integration-or-android-ip-play/
May
11
2010
Drugs and anti-paternalism
On Saturday I had an article in the Dom ranting about how harm minimisation was a dumb goal – as there are benefits from the consumption of drugs. This argument has been on the internet a million times (see these two searches for example), so there is no need to rehash it here. Originally, the …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2010/05/11/drugs-and-anti-paternalism/
Jan
22
2009
Cartel busting raises prices??
Or so says a report released by Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) in Melbourne. Aparantly they surveyed some literature showing that prices acutually rose in the years following cartel presecution in the states (disclaimer: I’ve only read a description of this report somewhere else!). Seams to be a classic case of correlation vs causation to …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2009/01/22/cartel-busting-raises-prices/
Jan
12
2009
Licensing fees vs open source software
I work (if you can call it that…) for an organisation that uses a suite of Microsoft applications. In addition to Windows XP it runs MS Office. For the ability to do this, a licensing fee, probably quite sizeable (I don’t know though) is paid to Microsoft. Now, it was pointed out to me that …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2009/01/12/licensing-fees-vs-open-source-software/
Dec
11
2008
Defending the Bank’s attack on “prices”
Yesterday I said that I thought the Bank’s speech on bringing down the price level was ridiculous. Not only is asking for a decline in prices a strange thing for a central bank to do, the mentioning of “oil companies” was slightly off the mark – given that they have slashed prices in the face …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2008/12/11/defending-the-banks-attack-on-prices/
Dec
09
2008
Sharing the school uniform surplus
The Commerce Commission appears to have found an unusual source of anti-competitive behaviour: schools forcing parents to use a monopoly supplier of school uniforms. Apparently schools often accept payments from clothing manufacturers in exchange for exclusive rights to sell the school’s uniform. Then the manufacturers extract large rents from their monopoly position by charging high …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2008/12/09/sharing-the-school-uniform-surplus/
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