Journal of Economic Perspectives
ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)
An Economist's Guide to U.S. v. Microsoft
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 15,
no. 2, Spring 2001
(pp. 25–44)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
We analyze the central economic issues raised by U.S. v Microsoft. Network effects and economies of scale in applications programs created a barrier to entry for new operating system competitors, which the combination of Netscape Navigator and the Java programming language potentially could have lowered. Microsoft took actions to eliminate this threat to its operating system monopoly, and some of Microsoft's conduct very likely harmed consumers. While we recognize the risks of the government's proposed structural remedy of splitting Microsoft in two, we are pessimistic that a limited conduct remedy would be effective in this case.Citation
Gilbert, Richard, J., and Michael L. Katz. 2001. "An Economist's Guide to U.S. v. Microsoft." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 15 (2): 25–44. DOI: 10.1257/jep.15.2.25JEL Classification
- L86 Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
- K21 Antitrust Law
- L41 Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
- L51 Economics of Regulation
There are no comments for this article.
Login to Comment