Is the Platform Economy Forcing Us to Reconsider Antitrust Enforcement?

An in-depth look at the changing landscape of antitrust enforcement, including 

a full slate of new papers scheduled to be published in the Review of Industrial Organization.

In addition, the conference includes a lunch discussion to mark the fortieth anniversary of Judge Robert Bork's influential book The Antitrust Paradox. Judge Bork's work led antitrust enforcement to focus on economic efficiency and consumer welfare rather than effects on competitors. With the rise of antitrust enforcement regimes around the world - as well as the rise of big technology companies - the legacy of The Antitrust Paradox is now being challenged in the United States and abroad.

The agenda is as follows:

9:00 AM - Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:30 AM - Lessons from History

• The Dubious Antitrust Argument for Breaking up the Internet Giants
  Robert Crandall, Technology Policy Institute

• Antitrust in the Internet Era: The Legacy of United States v. A&P
  Timothy Muris, George Mason University, Scalia Law School and Sidley Austin
  Jonathan Nuechterlein, Sidley Austin

• Discussant: Lawrence J. White, NYU Stern School of Business 

10:30 AM - Multisided Markets, Big Data, and Consumer Welfare

• Multisided Markets, Big Data, and a Little Antitrust Policy
  Michael Katz, University of California, Berkeley

• The Misguided Assault on the Consumer Welfare Standard in the Age of Platform Markets
  Douglas Melamed, Stanford Law School
  Nicolas Petit, University of Liege, University of South Australia, and Stanford University, Hoover Institution

• Discussant - Bruce Kobayashi, Federal Trade Commission 

11:30 AM - Break 

11:40 AM - Platforms and Market Definition

• Attention Platforms, the Value of Content, and Public Policy
  David Evans, Global Economics Group and University College London
   
• Burdens and Balancing in Multisided Markets: The First Principles Approach of Ohio et at. v. American Express
  Joshua Wright and John Yun, George Mason University Scalia Law School

• Discussant: Ginger Jin, University of Maryland

1:00 PM - Lunch Panel: 40 Years After the Antitrust Paradox

• Noah Phillips, Commissioner, FTC
• Additional Speakers TBA