The Role of the State

The following is an excerpt from Despoina Mantzari's book, "Courts, Regulators, and the Scrutiny of Economic Evidence," now out at Oxford University Press.

The following is a transcript of Eric Posner and Carl Shapiro's debate on the proper role of economics in merger review at the 2024 Stigler Center Antitrust and Competition Conference.

The following is a transcript of Guy Rolnik's conversation with Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter and Chair Lina Khan at the 2024 Stigler Center Antitrust and Competition Conference.

The upcoming European elections will determine the next European Parliament, but the real competition for the EU's economic future lies in the debate between two competing visions, writes Stefano Feltri. One vision, represented by Emmanuel Macron and Mario Draghi, calls for a radical departure from the EU's traditional approach to prioritize strategic autonomy and industrial policy, while the other, championed by Enrico Letta, argues for strengthening the single market and addressing its shortcomings to shape globalization and ensure security through fair competition.

New research from Renping Li finds that consolidation among investment banks has produced higher underwriting costs for local governments in issuing muni bonds. Importantly, Li says these costs are not offset by efficiency gains and that the result is a deterioration in local government finances.

The Biden administration's ambitious place-based industrial policy aims to both revitalize struggling regions and bolster America's strategic economic sectors, but these two goals often conflict. Walter Frick writes that while policies that boost economic prospects in distressed areas may not immediately transform them into innovation hubs, they could unlock the potential of future generations and ultimately contribute to the nation's innovative capacity.

Much of the focus of recent antitrust scrutiny has been on companies, with very little attention paid to the motivations of the individual managers setting the anticompetitive strategies of their enterprises. Understanding the concrete personal incentives of the billionaire blockholders entrenched at the helm of most of America’s incumbent corporations is critical to devising effective competition, corporate governance, and tax policy fixes to tackle harmful market concentration at the root.

In new research, Wentian Zhang finds that a reduction in antitrust enforcement causes venture capitalists to significantly decrease their investments in startups, leading to fewer startups going public and diminished innovation.

Many cities across the United States are experiencing structural budget deficits. However, in part due to salary and benefit promises to public-employee unions, there is little capacity to control spending. Local politicians have few electoral incentives to push back against union bargaining demands to address these rising costs.

ProMarket interviewed Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter at the 2024 Stigler Center Antitrust and Competition Conference.