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[...] We are skeptical about the specific charge against Amazon—namely, that book prices will rise significantly once the company’s dominance is complete—but we are somewhat more sympathetic to the idea that Amazon might act as too powerful a gatekeeper for an important cultural industry, perhaps e…

Over the last two generations, as Andrei Shleifer has noted, most economists and political theorists have shifted from viewing government intervention in a positive light to preferring privatization. Today, there’s a trend toward regulation that was once provided by governments now being provided b…

Thus, when a firm can erect barriers to entry, it can keep competitors out, and entrants with substitute products cannot storm the castle. When a firm can subjugate suppliers, competition among them weakens their bargaining power so the firm can keep its costs low. When a firm can subjugate buyers …