Racist Antitrust, Antiracist Antitrust

If the tumultuous 2010s yielded one consistent theme, it is frustration with inequality coalescing into collective action. In response, progressive enforcers and commentators have begun to explore whether the antitrust laws—enacted in an attempt to counter concentrated power during a previous Gilded Age—might play a role in addressing systemic racialized inequality. This essay contributes to that ongoing conversation by historicizing a pair of antitrust cases: Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and Superior Court Trial Lawyers Association. The first is an admirable example of antiracist antitrust. The second is its opposite. Together, these two decisions represent divergent paths. Which has the contemporary antitrust enterprise followed? The Supreme Court’s most recent substantive decision in the area, Ohio v. American Express, suggests both room for hope and reason for concern. The essay concludes by offering four recommendations for how antitrust can retake the high road. Antitrust can and should help to address—rather than exacerbate—structural inequality.

Corporate Perspectives on the Panoptic Sort

This chapter is focused on understanding the similarities and differences within the corporate sectors actively engaged in the development and use of the panoptic sort in support of their business ventures. The chapter focuses on three central actors of the time: the American Express Corporation, a dominant data services provider; TRW, a major defense contractor; and Equifax, an emerging giant in the provision of information about credit worthiness and other assessments of financial worth. Additional attention is focused on the special role played by a market auxiliary, the Direct Marketing Association, which played a central role in defending the industry against privacy laws and regulations emerging on the horizon. An additional effort to understand the corporate perspective on surveillance and the pursuit of power and influence made use of a survey of Fortune 500 companies at the time. Despite the quite low participation rate of the members of this special class, characteristics of their marketing techniques, their concerns about government regulation, and their assignment of responsibility for the development of a regulatory response were subject to analysis. It was not surprising to see how concerned they actually were about a consumer backlash against their collection and use of transaction-generated information.

Assessing Financial Transaction Bank Credit Cards According to Islamic Banking System

This research explored the historical background to bank credit cards, the development of using plastic cards, classification of bank cards, characteristics and benefits of each class of cards. The research intends to address presumed problems such as: what are bank credit cards? How it has been developed? What are the international organization that introduced plastic cards? How these companies settle the payment between the card holder, the bank where he opened account and the business center, where he purchased goods or enjoyed services? Descriptive analytical methodology was employed for analysis whereby the research described type of bank cards, classified them and then collaborate analysis with the usage and benefits of each card. The thrust of the paper is to explore the views of Shariah Law pertaining the legality of using plastic bank credit cards, describing the acts and behavior which is not lawful according to provisions of Shariah Law. Moreover it includes the legal basis for collecting fees by bank managements on services being offered to credit card holders. Key words: Bank credit cards. Visa, Master card, Amex, American express, Juristic resolution, Fatwas International Islamic juristic assembly.

INDIRECT NETWORK EFFECTS, USAGE EXTERNALITIES, AND PLATFORM COMPETITION

ABSTRACT Platforms, or two-sided markets, have become a topic of significant discussion in competition law over the past decade, culminating in the recent US Supreme Court decision in Ohio v. American Express Co. This note discusses externalities in platforms. Indirect network effects, one type of externality common on platforms, have been prominent in these discussions. However, the prominence of indirect network effects has obscured the importance of another externality that exists on platforms, a usage externality. This note argues that a near exclusive focus on indirect network effects has led to errors in identifying when a market should be analyzed as a platform. These errors implicate the identification of platforms like those at issue in Ohio v. American Express Co. as well as a wider set of platforms, such as ad-supported media platforms.