Tim Wu

@superwuster.bsky.social

Professor Columbia University & contributing opinion writer for the NY Times. Latest book THE AGE OF EXTRACTION (the rise of the platforms) (Nov 2025) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691177/the-age-of-extraction-by-tim-wu/

Maybe the reason Trump seems to hate Denmark, Canada, Norway, Minnesota and Vermont so much is that they are nice, decent places that work pretty well -- in other words, the opposite of everything Trump stands for.

Airlines are required to list their "all-in" prices, instead of tricking you with a $49 bait price and piling on fees, taxes etc at the final point of sale. Seems to me that's a pretty good model for most if not all of the economy.

"Antitrust and Industrial Policy: A Misunderstood Relationship." This is a new draft academic paper I've been working on for a while (serious comments welcome). It suggests that the antitrust regime should be understood as a part of the industrial policy toolkit. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Antitrust and Industrial Policy: A Misunderstood Relationship

<p>Antitrust and industrial policy have long been understood as separate areas of policy, handled by different officials with different priorities. Superficiall

papers.ssrn.com

The point of having merger guidelines and structural presumptions is to discourage firms from attempting illegal mergers. Unfortunately Trump has given everyone the impression that they can get their deal through with kickbacks and ass-kissing

In a sign of how times have changed, in 1959 economists Turner and Keysen proposed a commission to breakup firms "where, for 5 years or more, one company has accounted for 50 percent or more of annual sales in the market, or four or fewer companies have accounted for 80 percent of sales”

The craziest thing about the Senate D capitulation is that the Trump administration was taking the blame and showing weakness in so many ways, including losing elections. What a time to fold!

In San Francisco and experiencing that feeling when you realize you've been exposed to way too much propaganda. I mean ut has always had bad areas but remains a beautiful and vibrant city to stroll around in.

Wish this was a better photo of Barry Lynn, Lina Khan, myself and Jonathan Kanter but it certainly captures a lot of recent anti-monopoly thinking in one frame

Bild

If you are around Oxford (UK) I'm giving a talk at the law school this Thursday at 12 at the IECL seminar room. Topic is: "The Servile State revisited" -- it is reconsideration of distributism as an alternative to brutal capitalism and communism. Open to public

Business has long depended on emotional attachment as strategy to create switching costs. (E.g., Cadillac). Seems utterly obvious that despite their ethical commitments, the intentional engineering of AIs to generate human emotional attachment will soon be mainstream.

From last week's meeting of winning progressive campaigns in UK/Canada/Australia - Left-leaning parties need tap into national pride, specifically concerning healthcare or threats to economic wellbeing; - Focus on affordability and economics essential; must resist distractions.