Product Details
Winners, Losers & Microsoft: Competition and Antitrust in High Technology

Winners, Losers & Microsoft: Competition and Antitrust in High Technology
By Stan J. Liebowitz, Stephen E. Margolis

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Product Description

Few issues in high technology are as divisive as the current debate over competition, innovation, and antitrust. Analyzing famous examples of economic “lock-in” by dominant corporations of supposedly inferior products, this book makes the case that free markets in high technology industry deliver better products to consumers, at lower prices, without government intervention. This publication's careful scholarship, well-founded hypotheses, and refutations of previously accepted theories—extending far beyond the Microsoft case—make this publication a vital piece of understanding for the future of technology and economics.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #1272161 in Books
  • Published on: 2001-03-01
  • Original language: English
  • Dimensions: .74" h x 6.06" w x 9.02" l, .98 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 302 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.com
In Winners, Losers & Microsoft, two top economists punch some big holes in the government's antitrust case against the software behemoth. Stan J. Liebowitz and Stephen E. Margolis argue that government lawyers are dead wrong to say that consumers are being forced to accept inferior standards and high prices because of Microsoft's hegemony.

With some well-documented and original research, the authors conclude that Microsoft is as successful as it is for a simple reason: good products win. "Whether they are lowly mousetraps or high-tech networks, better products prevail in the marketplace. People choose what they want, and what they want survives, at least for a while," they write. The authors also challenge the economists who believe that when it comes to technology, inferior standards get locked in because of unfair corporate actions or irrational consumer behavior. Through cogent analysis, Liebowitz and Margolis tear apart the two key examples used by these other economists: the VHS videocassette format and the so-called QWERTY typewriter keyboard layout. The authors argue that those formats dominate today because they truly were as good as, if not better than, their competitors, the Beta videocassette and Dvorak keyboard. While most of the book is theoretical and aimed toward those interested in public policy and economics, Winners, Losers & Microsoft can also be an eye opener for anyone who wants to learn more about the antitrust case against the company. --Dan Ring

Review

"By a long way, it is the best single thing to read on this tangle of issues."  —The  Economist



"Features what appears to be the first systematic look at the real-world history of the software industry."  —Wired News


"In Winners, Losers & Microsoft, economists Liebowitz and Margolis present powerful evidence that Microsoft lowered prices."  —Newsweek


"Th[is] fascinating history and analysis can guide us toward a better understanding of the newer forms of competition."  —Jack Hirshleifer, professor of economics, UCLA



"Everyone interested in public policy toward high technology industries will want to read this excellent book."  —Sam Peltzman, professor of economics, University of Chicago

 


"Powerful stuff, Winners, Losers & Microsoft promises to have an important impact on the debate about the appropriate use of antitrust in high-technology markets. It does indeed exhibit a very high caliber of scholarship, addresses the key questions posed by the proponents of anti-competitive 'lock-in,' and bases its conclusions on a wealth of new empirical evidence." —William F. Shughart II, Barnard Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Mississippi


"If only the Clinton Justice Department read Winners, Losers & Microsoft, the American economy would be spared much pain and legal expense. Stan Liebowitz and Stephen Margolis really know their stuff, and they can write too." —Wall Street Journal

Armen A. Alchian, professor of economics, University of California, Los Angeles
“For the rest of us, it’s not too late to learn, as well as be entertained by, the Liebowitz-Margolis explanation.”