The Role of the State

Jan Broulík writes that the interest and willingness of European competition authorities and courts to intervene in markets to protect labor has made critical strides over the last few months. However, it still has a ways to go to even catch up with its American counterpart.

Stigler Center Assistant Director Matt Lucky reflects on the comments from his panel on competition advocacy at the 2025 Stigler Center Antitrust and Competition Conference. He weighs the meaning and possibility for a democratically legitimate antitrust and competition policy.

The following is an excerpt from Chris Hughes’ new book, “Marketcrafters: the 100-Year Struggle to Shape the American Economy,” now out at Simon & Schuster. You can listen to Hughes discuss his book with Bethany McLean and Luigi Zingales on a new Capitalisn't episode here.

In new research, Sarah Hinck and Jasper van den Boom argue that the European Union’s Digital Markets Act’s (DMA) whistleblower tool does not yet bring enough to the table to effectively incentivize potential informants to report on Big Tech violations.

Crypto assets and social media are changing how finance operates. Uncertainty around the future of AI is affecting financial markets. Claudia Biancotti argues that regulators must expand their range of expertise and pursue a multidisciplinary approach to protecting society against the potential negative spillovers from these developments.

Fifteen years after Citizens United opened elections to corporate campaign financing, Jacob Eisler asks if the ruling remains relevant after Donald Trump won in 2016 and 2024 through small donations and social media savvy rather than traditional reliance on kingmaking donors.

In a new report, Eric Rescorla and Alissa Cooper analyze how Google’s browser, Chrome, could operate successfully as an independent entity if the court presiding over Google Search orders its divestiture.

Meher Sethi argues that a little-noticed provision in the federal budget recently passed by the House will gut state laws protecting consumers from algorithmic price-fixing.

Fiona Scott Morton introduces her new book on how regulators and policymakers can promote competition and fairness in digital markets.

In recent weeks, a spate of mergers has been announced in telecommunications markets. The activity endangers Americans’ access to affordable and reliable internet services. Rather than continue to depend on private companies to provide essential internet services, cities should look to the many communities that have provided significantly lower-cost and higher-quality public internet connectivity, writes Sean Gonsalves.