FTC Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Amazon
Among the allegations, the agency charges that Amazon Prime subscribers are incentivized to make the most of their subscription by buying more products.
CEI’s Ryan Young is cited on Reason Magazine following the FTC’s lawsuit against Amazon:
Ryan Young, senior economist for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said in a statement that “Amazon controls roughly ten percent of total retail, and about 38 percent of online retail. For Amazon to look dominant, the FTC had to invent new terms such as the ‘online superstore market that serves shoppers’ and the ‘online marketplace services purchased by sellers.’ Even if Amazon monopolizes those specially-defined markets, the FTC will have a difficult time proving consumer harm.”
“Under antitrust law, big is not automatically bad,” Young says. “Big must behave badly first by harming consumers. The rapid innovation, low prices, and low profit margins across the retail and grocery industries, make it unlikely that Amazon is harming consumers.”
Read the full article on Reason Magazine.