FTC's lead economics expert in Facebook antitrust suit leaves the agency

Carl Shapiro, the lead economics expert in the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust suit against Facebook, has parted ways with the agency—adding yet another impediment to the regulator’s largest court fight. The University of California-Berkeley economist has criticized new FTC Chair Lina Khan’s aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement, and she in turn has faulted the agency’s traditional reliance on economists’ analyses in its fights against alleged monopolists. The FTC is now looking for a new expert just three weeks before the agency must decide whether to file the new version of the Facebook lawsuit after a DC-based judge threw it out in July 2021. The agency has pleaded with Congress for more money, arguing that its $331 million budget isn’t sufficient for its burgeoning workload of policing mergers, business conduct, consumer privacy and data security. In a 2019 audit, the FTC’s inspector general found the agency pays about $750 per hour for experts and that cases involving company business conduct — like the antitrust suit against Facebook — are among the most expensive.