The Capitol Forum

Evan Starr, Associate Professor of Management & Organization at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, discusses the likely economic benefits of the FTC banning non-compete agreements, including a boost to wages and worker mobility.

Matt Stoller, Director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project, discusses the debate around monopoly and inflation.  Matt also shares his predictions for the antimonopoly movement in 2022.

Luke Herrine, author of “The Folklore of Unfairness.” Herrine’s article, published recently in the New York University Law Review, argues that conventional wisdom – which holds that the FTC in the 1970s pursued an expansive notion of its unfairness authority but failed spectacularly – “gets the law and the history wrong.” Instead, argues Herrine, the commission’s actions in the 1970s were quite po...

Stacy Mitchell is co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and directs its Independent Business Initiative, which produces research and designs policy to counter concentrated corporate power and strengthen local economies.  ILSR’s new report, Amazon’s Toll road, finds that “Amazon is exploiting its position as a gatekeeper to impose steep and growing fees on third-party sellers” and th...

Jeff Hauser is the founder and director of the Revolving Door Project, which is an influential organization that scrutinizes executive branch appointees to ensure they serve the public interest rather than large corporations’ interests.  The Revolving Door Project’s newest polling and analysis memo, “Corporate Crackdown” concludes that there is broad, bipartisan support for a President who is will...

Brendan Ballou is a trial attorney at DOJ’s antitrust division and author of “The 'No Collusion' Rule,” published earlier this year in the Stanford Law & Policy Review. In that article, Ballou proposes that the FTC, under its unfair methods of competition authority, should pursue a “no collusion” rulemaking , which would seek to prevent companies from raising prices simply because their compet...

Barry Lynn has literally written the book on two of the hottest economic and policy topics right now—monopolies and supply chain fragility.  His book on monopoly is called Cornered: the new monopoly capitalism and the economics of destruction and his book on supply chains is called End of the Line.  On a previous podcast, former FTC Chair Bill Kovacic said that Barry Lynn’s work on launching the a...

The Honorable Bill Kovacic gives his outlook for antitrust enforcement in the Biden administration and distinguishes between antitrust Transformationalists and Traditionalists and their struggle for influence. He also discusses antitrust rulemaking, antitrust legislation, and Robinson-Patman enforcement.

Teddy talks with Claire Kelloway, a senior reporter with the Open Markets Institute . She’s also the primary writer for Food & Power , a website providing original reporting and resources on monopoly power in the food system.  Claire gives her outlook for antitrust enforcement in the meat industry during the Biden administration. miheGBWc0OwEliouw3ea

Teddy chats with Seth Bloom, founder of Bloom Strategic Counsel and former General Counsel of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, to get his thoughts on which antitrust bills can pass Congress and get signed into law and which will be left on the cutting room floor.  Seth and Teddy also talk about new priorities at the FTC, which already-consummated mergers the FTC might investigate and try to brea...

Teddy chats with Ron Knox, senior researcher and writer at The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, about his recent article in Wired Magazine, Big Music Needs to Be Broken Up to Save the Industry . He tells stories about  why music is worse now than it was when the industry was more competitive,  how Sweet Jane Recordings is actually owned by a big conglomerate,  how independent record stores ended...

Teddy chats with Bill Baer about antitrust being at an inflection point, the consumer welfare test as "not even a useful construct anymore," antitrust rulemaking as a new tool in the enforcer toolbox, stepped up criminal antitrust enforcement, and a likely increase in focus on buyer power concerns from antitrust enforcers.

Following forty years of laissez-faire antitrust enforcement and industry consolidation, the White House is considering a fundamental rethink of how to interpret, enforce, and rewrite antitrust law, and many questions remain unanswered for the antitrust community.   On the heels of federal and state litigation against Google and Facebook, is Amazon next? Will the new administration put big agricul...