Archive for the ‘Monopoly’ Category
Link:https://www.npr.org/2020/10/21/926168583/hey-google-are-you-too-big
The Department of Justice has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Google due to their alleged monopoly power over the online search and internet search ad market. The DOJ must prove in this case that Google has created this monopoly in a way that is harmful to consumers. If Google loses the case, this would allow for more competition within the market, even if the effects of this case are not seen right away.
Original Air Date: October 21, 2020
Length: 18 minutes
Link: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/01/19/579231506/therise-and-fall-and-rise-of-oil-prices
Summary: Oil prices have been fluctuating over the years, but when there is a price increase, many people may experience increases in the price of gas, heating, or a flight ticket back home as well. With the volatility of oil prices, what does this mean for determining future prices of oil and will these prices ever stabilize?
Original Air Date: January 19, 2018
Length: 7 minutes 4 seconds
Link: https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/041917-mtech
Summary: “Move Fast and Break Things” is a newly released book about the monopolistic market structure of the internet. Marketplace interviews Jonathan Taplin, the author of the book, who is the tour manager for Bob Dylan. They discuss how the monopoly structure set up by the technology companies has ruined the communal nature of the internet. Also discussed is one silicon valley entrepreneur who left San Francisco for Minneapolis.
Original Air Date: April 19, 2017
Length: 7 minutes 35 seconds
Link: https://www.marketplace.org/2017/03/27/tech/farmers-hack-their-equipment-evade-tractor-company-policies
Summary: Farmers are hacking into their own tractors in order to fix them, rather than pay for a dealer to fix it for them. Marketplace introduces this situation and explains why tractor owners aren’t satisfied with this developing market concentration in the repair market and what they hope to do about it. .
Original Air Date: March 27, 2017
Length: 3 minutes 2 seconds
Discussion Question: What impact does forcing tractor owners to go through dealers for repairs do for competition in the market? Who benefits from this system more, the owner or the dealer?
Link: http://www.marketplace.org/2016/03/31/health-care/ftc-fights-against-new-strategy-delaying-generics
Summary: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has brought an important case against ‘pay-for-delay schemes’, seeking to show that non-monetary deals between pharmaceutical companies inhibit the market from functioning properly. More importantly, they seek to demonstrate that these deals are illegal.
Original Air Date: April 1, 2016
Length: 2 minutes 10 seconds
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/10/03/353300404/episode-573-why-textbook-prices-keep-climbing
Summary: Something strange is going on in the textbook market. The price has steeply increased over the past decade–and they’re only getting higher. There is a disconnect between the chooser (the professors) and the buyers (the students). Technically, the professor is the consumer, and they’re spending their students’ money. The podcast offers the opposite: high school textbooks, where costs are kept low because the books are paid for by the schools.
Original Air Date: October 3, 2014
Length: 14 minutes 56 seconds
Discussion Question/ Prompt: Propose a solution to the rising textbook price problem. (Example: a price ceiling? professor awareness of prices? incentives for lower prices?)
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/12/13/167055503/why-legos-are-so-expensive-and-so-popular
Summary: Why are Legos so popular? How has this toy-construction behemoth survived and out-strategized competitors even after their 1989 patent expiration?
Original Air Date: December 13, 2012
Length: 5 min
Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1788989&ft=1&f=
Summary: Discusses European Commission’s decision to fine Microsoft for monopolistic practices. The Commission found that Microsoft abused its dominance of the market to force consumers to use their Media Player software.
Length: 3:20 min
Original air date: March 24, 2004
Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120624314
Summary: A look at the markets for prescription and generic drugs in the context of the impending patent expiration of a large portion of pharmaceuticals under the “patent cliff” of 2011. Discusses patents creating monopoly power for brand name drugs and compares that to the market for generics.
Length: 4:24 minutes
Original air date: November 4, 2009
Link: http://www.freakonomics.com/2013/01/17/who-owns-the-words-that-come-out-of-your-mouth-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/
Summary: A discussion of the use, intricacies, and reform of copyright law, set in the context of the dedicated use of copyright law by the estate of Winston Churchill. Includes an estimate of the cost per word to use Churchill quotes, and how higher prices per quote of Clementine Churchill result in a reduction in the use of quotes from his wife. Also includes a discussion of the obstacles to business created by the system of copyright / intellectual property law in Britain.
Original air date: January 17, 2013
Length: 2:21
audioecon 