A Good Rule of Thumb
2 June 2007
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
The Federal Trade Commission might stop Google from merging with DoubleClick ("Inquiry Into Deal," June 2). Google's rivals support this obstruction; as you report, "Rivals of Google contend that the merger would give Google immense power in Internet advertising in both search ads and display ads online."
A good rule of thumb is that when rivals of any company support antitrust action against that company, those actions should be dismissed pronto. If the company's behavior really threatens to harm consumers with higher prices or lower quality, rivals generally benefit. Rivals squawk for antitrust actions against other firms in their industries only when those other firms innovate and re-organize in ways likely to intensify competition.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
The Federal Trade Commission might stop Google from merging with DoubleClick ("Inquiry Into Deal," June 2). Google's rivals support this obstruction; as you report, "Rivals of Google contend that the merger would give Google immense power in Internet advertising in both search ads and display ads online."
A good rule of thumb is that when rivals of any company support antitrust action against that company, those actions should be dismissed pronto. If the company's behavior really threatens to harm consumers with higher prices or lower quality, rivals generally benefit. Rivals squawk for antitrust actions against other firms in their industries only when those other firms innovate and re-organize in ways likely to intensify competition.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Monday January 21, 2008 at 1:53pm