The concentration numbers were sufficiently high. Tho the best theory of harm was on the worker side, as spelled out in this @TheSlingOrg piece. Yet the states neglected to include that (monopsony) theory in their complaint. It's a bad day for the anti-monopoly movement. thesling.org/hollywoods-labo…

Had the pleasure of interviewing Lindsay Owens (@owenslindsay1), about her new book, "Gouged: The End of a Fair Price--And What That Means for Your Wallet" on The Slingshot. Here's a snippet where Lindsay explains the simple yet powerful role of the price tag in protecting consumers. And how surveillance pricing threatens that protection. Go give it a listen!

Fun piece by sports economist @wagesofwins (David Berri) in @TheSlingOrg, asking why sports owners don't put their money with their mouth is and go on strike. Maybe because they don't generate any real value? 🤷‍♂️ thesling.org/why-dont-the-sp…

Cool new piece in @TheSlingOrg by @DeveshKRay that explores the impact of driverless taxis by comparing trips per hour (using a driver) in cities exposed and not exposed (e.g., New York City) to autonomous fleets. Go check it out! thesling.org/a-union-born-to…

And for those interested in diving deeper into this issue, here’s a link to Hudson’s report. cdn.prod.website-files.com/6…

Had a good time interviewing Hudson Munoz, Executive Director of Guns Down America, about his new report on how large gun retailers are keeping gun prices inflated through a scheme that amounts to price fixing. Are high gun prices a bad thing? Well go watch our nerdy chat, with great commentary by my co-host Darren Bush. thesling.org/video/slingshot…

The economic debate over what caused inflation to surge in 2021-22 pits two dueling hypotheses: (1) a shifting out of the demand curve or (2) a change in firm conduct. The most common explanation of (2) is a form of *tacit* price coordination--that is, firms raised prices in excess of costs under the cover of a crisis, aka "profiteering," "gouging," or "sellers' inflation." Largely overlooked in the debate is the contribution of *explicit* price-fixing in major consumer-facing sectors of the economy such as rents (think RealPage) and food (think Agri Stats). It's important to resolve this debate, as the policy implications for combating inflation are very different depending on what ultimately caused prices to spike in this period.

The kernel of his idea is that evidence of rising margins or profits' contribution to value added could also be explained by rising demand. Yet he never offers any proof in support of his alternative hypothesis. Instead, he critiques the evidence in support of profit-inflation (or what @IsabellaMWeber calls "sellers' inflation"). He also proposes an evidentiary requirement for a change in firm conduct to have caused inflation--namely, that a rash of cartels must have formed precisely in 2021 or 2022. We explain why such a requirement is not needed, and even if it were, there was in fact a rash of price-fixing complaints and settlements in the real estate and food industries in the same period.

In the aftermath of Covid crisis, a heterodox theory of inflation took hold, which blamed corporations for using the fog of a crisis to raise prices in excess of any cost increase and generally coordinate on pricing. Some industrial organization economists believe it is their job to defend corporations and deflect blame for price hikes on rising demand. One such economist was able to publish his critique in a peer-reviewed journal. With Rafay Abit, I review his paper here (link in thread below).