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VOICE ARCHIVE

Hal Singer

@halsinger
71 posts
2025-12-10
@Instacart ... describes here the concept of merchants using their OWN pricing algorithms. Even in this case, the use of pricing algorithms can facilitate coordination in what economists call “algorithmic coordination.” The problem I mentioned above is arguably more pernicious, [image]
2025-12-10 View on X
New York Times

Study: 193 Instacart users across four US cities saw different prices for the same items from the same store at the same time; Instacart says it's running tests

The findings are the latest example of how the notion of a single price is breaking down in the digital age, a trend economists say could be pushing up some prices.

New study shows some @Instacart customers were charged 20 percent more for the SAME product at the SAME store (a Safeway in DC) at the SAME time. Same findings at Targets in Ohio and Minnesota. This study, organized by @Groundwork, focuses on price DISCRIMINATION, which is a [image]
2025-12-10 View on X
New York Times

Study: 193 Instacart users across four US cities saw different prices for the same items from the same store at the same time; Instacart says it's running tests

The findings are the latest example of how the notion of a single price is breaking down in the digital age, a trend economists say could be pushing up some prices.

2024-07-04
Just revisited the section of the FTC's rule titled “Evidence of Suppressed Earning.” The number of unique studies cited in that section alone—I count ten—are vastly more than a “handful.” Yeesh. [image]
2024-07-04 View on X
NPR

A federal court in Texas temporarily blocks the US government's ban on noncompete agreements set to take effect on September 4, and plans to rule on August 30

A federal court in Texas has partially blocked the government's ban on noncompete agreements that was set to take effect September 4.

2023-08-17
This pricing tactic appears to be “penalty price” imposed by Amazon on merchants who “break the tie” and purchases the ancillary service (shipping) from a third party. Good econ literature here on how this conduct extracts surplus. Cc @stacyfmitchell
2023-08-17 View on X
Bloomberg

Docs: Amazon plans to impose a new 2% fee per sale on merchants who ship products themselves, on top of the ~15% commission they already pay, from October 2023

2023-01-06
The FTC's ban will eliminate hundreds if not thousands of hours of economic experts debating efficiency justifications for noncompetes— including quite possibly some of my own time—and that's a good thing. https://twitter.com/...
2023-01-06 View on X
VICE

The FTC proposes a rule banning non-compete clauses, saying the contracts harm healthy competition in the labor and product markets and block entrepreneurship

the latest move in Lina Khan's ambitious reform agenda. https://www.nytimes.com/... Elizabeth Warren / @ewarren : Imagine you hate your job. The pay is low. The benefits are crummy...

2022-09-15
Nice summary of California's case. The key questions are (1) by how much would Amazon's take rate fall if merchants were allowed to steer customers to lower cost platforms and (2) how much of the take rate decrease would be passed through to consumers? https://www.nytimes.com/...
2022-09-15 View on X
New York Times

California's AG files an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, focusing on the company allegedly penalizing sellers who list products at lower prices on other sites

inflating prices across the web isn't exactly customer-obsessed. https://twitter.com/... Stacy Mitchell / @stacyfmitchell : 8/8. Here's the filing itself. Lots of damning quotes an...

2022-08-17
Enforcing the FTC Act against deceptive practices—Amazon allegedly unfairly complicates the process for customers who want to cancel Prime—is “harassment” per Amazon https://arstechnica.com/...
2022-08-17 View on X
Financial Times

Filing: Amazon accuses the FTC of harassing its top executives, including Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy, as part of its investigation into Prime membership

Amazon allegedly unfairly complicates the process for customers who want to cancel Prime—is “harassment” per Amazon https://arstechnica.com/... Cecilia Kang / @ceciliakang : Amazon...

2022-07-25
Great piece on how Big Tech is making a play for live sports, but make sure you get to the takeaway near the end. Long-term exclusive contracts are a hell of a barrier. I'd put the Sunday Ticket in the “tertiary packages” category. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
2022-07-25 View on X
New York Times

How Apple, Amazon, and Google are trying to win live sports streaming rights by persuading skeptical leagues to switch from traditional TV and cable networks

but not on your TV Tim Baysinger / Axios : Google makes NFL Sunday Ticket a three-way race Mike Florio / NBCSports.com : Report: Google has made a bid for Sunday Ticket Jose Montes...

My point: Regulators should intervene in long-term exclusive contracts involving must-have inputs. By sitting idly by the last time these rights were up for bid, the agencies effectively locked in an outmoded distribution technology (cable tv).
2022-07-25 View on X
New York Times

How Apple, Amazon, and Google are trying to win live sports streaming rights by persuading skeptical leagues to switch from traditional TV and cable networks

but not on your TV Tim Baysinger / Axios : Google makes NFL Sunday Ticket a three-way race Mike Florio / NBCSports.com : Report: Google has made a bid for Sunday Ticket Jose Montes...

Yes in this case, my sympathies are with Apple and Amazon, invading cable's fiefdom. Sorry if that offends anyone.
2022-07-25 View on X
New York Times

How Apple, Amazon, and Google are trying to win live sports streaming rights by persuading skeptical leagues to switch from traditional TV and cable networks

but not on your TV Tim Baysinger / Axios : Google makes NFL Sunday Ticket a three-way race Mike Florio / NBCSports.com : Report: Google has made a bid for Sunday Ticket Jose Montes...

2022-06-20
Imagine being a conservative who believes platforms should be able to moderate content on their own websites. You stand no chance against a billionaire who has literally acquired control of the conservative party. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
2022-06-20 View on X
Washington Post

Interviews with members of Peter Thiel's inner circle describe how he came to the decision to leave Meta's board, a departure that was years in the making

Inside the billionaire investor's journey from Facebook board member to an architect of the new American right Tweets: @daweiner , @lizzadwoskin , @sorayamcdonald , @jeffjarvis , @...

2022-05-27
This is pathetic. Weak-in-the-knee Dems are backing off an *extremely popular* bill over false claims that it would threaten the existence of Amazon Prime. https://www.politico.com/...
2022-05-27 View on X
Politico

Sources: a bipartisan bill that would ban Big Tech companies from favoring their products faces resistance from some Senate Democrats worried about the midterms

2022-01-30
Excellent piece by @mims on how the FTC is forcing a major rethink of antitrust issues, including use of concept of #monopsony. A few thoughts to follow. https://www.wsj.com/...
2022-01-30 View on X
Wall Street Journal

How Lina Khan's FTC is using the concept of “monopsony”, a market where one buyer is pre-eminent, to push for Big Tech antitrust regulation

Federal Trade Commission chief Lina Khan has developed an innovative way to frame the issue.  Whether she has the tools to see it through remains to be seen.

2021-11-29
Excellent piece. The durable nature of these monopolies, protected by network effects, provides the basis not only for antitrust interventions (noted in piece), but also for common-carriage regulation as well (a non-discrimination regime, duty to deal with input providers, etc.) https://twitter.com/...
2021-11-29 View on X
Wall Street Journal

How “neo-conglomerates” like Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta replaced and outgrew industrial conglomerates like GE, Toshiba, and Johnson & Johnson

it is like cutting an egg in half” Tweets: Darren Herman / @dherman76 : When I was in college, we studied GE pretty intensely. Today? https://www.wsj.com/... Peter Kafka / @pkafka ...

2021-07-10
Apple is moving aggressively into consumer-health devices (via a “dozen” acquisitions) and health subscription services. We need some ground rules like Cicilline's bill to keep these ancillary markets open to competition, else Apple will monopolize them. https://www.economist.com/... https://twitter.com/...
2021-07-10 View on X
CNBC

Biden signs an EO calling on regulators to enact reforms such as increasing scrutiny of tech mergers and focusing more on moves like “killer acquisitions”

- President Joe Biden signed a new executive order aimed at cracking down on anti-competitive practices in Big Tech, labor and numerous other sectors.

2021-06-28
Just gonna drop this right here and walk away https://mattstoller.substack.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
2021-06-28 View on X
BIG

Antitrust bills have issues, but Judiciary Committee passing them is nothing short of a revolution in American thinking on political economy and monopoly power

2021-06-17
In contrast to Spotify and Apply Music, the economic model of Twitch allows niche artists, over a much smaller audience, to “make thousands of dollars a month by cultivating fan tribes whose loyalty is expressed through patronage.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
2021-06-17 View on X
New York Times

Twitch, where even niche artists can make thousands of dollars per month by cultivating fan tribes, is becoming increasingly attractive to musicians

and allows those connections to be efficiently monetized. https://www.nytimes.com/... @future_of_music : Ben's a great journalist and everyone should read everything he writes. But...

2021-06-01
This story pits consumers against drivers, blaming higher fares on drivers, precisely how Uber/Lyft would have scripted it. Alt take: This “labor shortage” is caused by Uber/Lyft's excessive take rates; a smaller take rate would increase driver supply. https://www.nytimes.com/...
2021-06-01 View on X
New York Times

Uber and Lyft acknowledge prices are up and wait times are longer, citing a lack of drivers; research found prices rose 37% from March 2020 to March 2021

The companies say they are charging extra because they don't have enough drivers to match rebounding customer demand.

2021-05-25
It's refreshing to see a Republican eschew the anti-tax dogma and recognize the pressing need to fund infrastructure projects, such as bringing broadband to the unserved. Dominant platforms, whose valuations have swelled during the pandemic, are an obvious source of tax revenue. https://twitter.com/...
2021-05-25 View on X
Newsweek

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr says Big Tech benefits massively from internet infrastructure and proposes that it should pay its fair share in maintaining it

Brendan Carr / Newsweek :

2021-04-18
Interviews of Amazon workers who voted against unionization reveal a common thread—that local employment options outside of Amazon are so weak that employees feel beholden to their current employer, a marker of monopsony power. https://www.nytimes.com/...
2021-04-18 View on X
CNBC

Sources detail Amazon's tactics during the Alabama union campaign, including “captive audience meetings”, as workers explain why the union was unconvincing