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PopularDid Microsoft Harm Consumers? Two Opposing Views
Year: 2000
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Excerpts from book:
United States v. Microsoft is arguably “the” antitrust case of the past decade. It will have important implications for how governments regulate information technologies and the coming Internet explosion. It will also have important consequences for how businesses behave in the marketplace and in the political arena.
Because the Microsoft case has captured the attention of the public and the press, we thought that it would be useful to provide an informed assessment of the economic and policy issues underlying the case. Typically, the AEI-Brookings Joint Center commissions studies from academics who do not have a direct stake in the issue under study. In this volume we decided to take a different tack. We asked the leading economists on the government side of the case and the Microsoft side of the case to lay out their views on the key issues and then to respond to the views presented by the opposing side. We did so because we felt that the leading economists would have access to information that outsiders might not easily obtain. We also felt that readers would then be in a good position to reach their own conclusions about the case.
We hope that this volume will highlight the fundamental areas of agreement and disagreement on this case. We also hope that this volume will illuminate many of the complex issues involved in assessing the appropriate scope for antitrust intervention in information technology industries.
United States v. Microsoft is arguably “the” antitrust case of the past decade. It will have important implications for how governments regulate information technologies and the coming Internet explosion. It will also have important consequences for how businesses behave in the marketplace and in the political arena.
Because the Microsoft case has captured the attention of the public and the press, we thought that it would be useful to provide an informed assessment of the economic and policy issues underlying the case. Typically, the AEI-Brookings Joint Center commissions studies from academics who do not have a direct stake in the issue under study. In this volume we decided to take a different tack. We asked the leading economists on the government side of the case and the Microsoft side of the case to lay out their views on the key issues and then to respond to the views presented by the opposing side. We did so because we felt that the leading economists would have access to information that outsiders might not easily obtain. We also felt that readers would then be in a good position to reach their own conclusions about the case.
We hope that this volume will highlight the fundamental areas of agreement and disagreement on this case. We also hope that this volume will illuminate many of the complex issues involved in assessing the appropriate scope for antitrust intervention in information technology industries.