Postrel on Microsoft, Joskow and Transaction Costs

Leave it to my eloquent former colleague Virginia Postrel to pick up on an extremely good analysis of the economics of antitrust law by Paul Joskow. I read this article on the plane to San Francisco last Friday, and it was one of the most compelling arguments I’ve seen yet for why actions, institutions and market structures that might look anti-competitive could really be outcomes of market processes. If you don’t take into account transaction costs, you miss them. It’s a great article. Virginia’s column on it is also far, far better than any summary I could write; go read it and enjoy.