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Economics at the FTC: Office Supply Retailers Redux, Healthcare Quality Efficiencies Analysis, and Litigation of an Alleged Get-Rich-Quick Scheme

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  • Keith Brand
  • Martin Gaynor
  • Patrick McAlvanah
  • David Schmidt
  • Elizabeth Schneirov

Abstract

We discuss in this essay three of the matters on which economists in the Bureau of Economics (BE) at the Federal Trade Commission have worked this past year. BE revisited familiar ground in the first matter, a proposed merger of office supply retailers. The second part of the essay considers efficiency claims in health care mergers, with focus on the acquisition of a physician group by a health care system in Idaho. The final part of the essay discusses empirical work that was undertaken by the Bureau to investigate claims made by marketers of an alleged get-rich-quick scheme. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York (outside the USA) 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Keith Brand & Martin Gaynor & Patrick McAlvanah & David Schmidt & Elizabeth Schneirov, 2014. "Economics at the FTC: Office Supply Retailers Redux, Healthcare Quality Efficiencies Analysis, and Litigation of an Alleged Get-Rich-Quick Scheme," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 45(4), pages 325-344, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:45:y:2014:i:4:p:325-344
    DOI: 10.1007/s11151-014-9444-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. O'Donoghue, Ted & Rabin, Matthew, 1997. "Doing It Now or Later," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt7t44m5b0, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    2. Joseph Farrell & David Balan & Keith Brand & Brett Wendling, 2011. "Economics at the FTC: Hospital Mergers, Authorized Generic Drugs, and Consumer Credit Markets," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 39(4), pages 271-296, December.
    3. Matthew Rabin & Ted O'Donoghue, 1999. "Doing It Now or Later," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 103-124, March.
    4. Orley Ashenfelter & David Ashmore & Jonathan Baker & Suzanne Gleason & Daniel Hosken, 2006. "Empirical Methods in Merger Analysis: Econometric Analysis of Pricing in FTC v. Staples," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 265-279.
    5. Gaynor, Martin, 2007. "Competition and Quality in Health Care Markets," Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, now publishers, vol. 2(6), pages 441-508, February.
    6. Martin Gaynor & Harald Seider & William B. Vogt, 2005. "The Volume–Outcome Effect, Scale Economies, and Learning-by-Doing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 243-247, May.
    7. Patrick Romano & David Balan, 2011. "A Retrospective Analysis of the Clinical Quality Effects of the Acquisition of Highland Park Hospital by Evanston Northwestern Healthcare," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 45-64.
    8. Stefano DellaVigna & Ulrike Malmendier, 2006. "Paying Not to Go to the Gym," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 694-719, June.
    9. Julie Carlson & Leemore Dafny & Beth Freeborn & Pauline Ippolito & Brett Wendling, 2013. "Economics at the FTC: Physician Acquisitions, Standard Essential Patents, and Accuracy of Credit Reporting," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 43(4), pages 303-326, December.
    10. Ho, Vivian & Town, Robert J. & Heslin, Martin J., 2007. "Regionalization versus competition in complex cancer surgery," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 51-71, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alison Oldale & Joel Schrag & Christopher Taylor, 2021. "The 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines at Ten: A View from the FTC’s Bureau of Economics," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 58(1), pages 33-50, February.

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