If the nine non-settling states' proposed sanctions were enacted, consumers would bear the brunt of imperfect software, higher prices and less innovation, an economist testifying on behalf of Microsoft told a federal judge Wednesday. "Provisions in the non-settling states' proposal will cause prices to rise, output to fall, innovation to slow, quality to erode, and costs to rise -- and would reduce competition," said University of Virginia economics professor Kenneth Elzinga. Elzinga told U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that the states' proposed remedies expand the scope of the antitrust trial beyond the anticompetitive issues identified in court, and would be more likely to do harm than to promote competition.
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