A Tribute, of Sorts, to William F. Baxter’s Bank Interchange of Transactional Paper
Thomas Brown, Dec 22, 2011
In 1983, the Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division in the United States Department of Justice, Bill Baxter, did something that would be unfathomable today. He published an academic paper in a scholarly journal that related directly to a piece of antitrust litigation then pending in federal court in which he had served as an expert. The paper did not ignite a storm of controversy. Today, the paper is recognized as the seminal work on a topic that has attracted considerable attention for the last several years and seems likely to remain on the public agenda in the United States and elsewhere for the indefinite future: interchange.
The consensus on Baxter’s paper ends there. There is considerable disagreement about what Baxter’s paper actually says. The various interpretations of “Bank Interchange of Transactional Paper” flow from two omissions in the paper that a contemporary reader will notice-a formal model and discussion of the work of other economists. Baxter’s article has none of the former and very little of the later.
With some trepidation, this essay attempts to make the going easier. It provides a short map of the paper. It also fills in some of the obvious holes in Baxter’s article and flags portions where an unwary reader might get trapped. Baxter’s article, like a proverbial Michelin-starred restaurant, is worth the trip. But it is also worth attempting to smooth an otherwise bumpy journey.
Links to Full Content
Featured News
T-Mobile Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Over Sprint Merger After Appeal Denied
May 16, 2024 by
CPI
Google Faces Backlash Over Introduction of AI-Generated Summaries in Searches
May 16, 2024 by
CPI
CMA Launches Phase 2 Probe into AlphaTheta’s Acquisition of Serato
May 16, 2024 by
CPI
NFL Executive Escapes Testifying in High-Stakes Trial Over Televised Games
May 16, 2024 by
CPI
EU Consumers Lodge Complaint Against Chinese Retailer Temu Over Content Rules Breach
May 16, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Ecosystems
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Mapping Antitrust onto Digital Ecosystems
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Ecosystems and Competition Law: A Law and Political Economy Approach
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Ecosystem Theories of Harm: What is Beyond the Buzzword?
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Open Ecosystems: Benefits, Challenges, and Implications for Antitrust
May 9, 2024 by
CPI