Paola Conconi
Paola Conconi is a Professor of Economics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, a member of the European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics (ECARES) and Research Associate of the Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS). She is also a Research Fellow of the CEPR International Trade and Regional Economics Program, the Director of the CEPR Research Network on Global Value Chains, Trade and Development, and a CESifo Research Fellow. She has published in several leading journals including the American Economic Review, the Review of Economic Studies, and the Journal of Political Economy. Her main research interests are in international trade, firm organization, and political economy.
Antitrust and Competition
Lobbying for Globalization: How the Winners Dominate the Politics of Trade Agreements
Lobbying on free trade agreements has been dominated by a few very large firms, which experience large gains as a result of...
Regulatory Capture
Guns and Votes: The Victory of an Intense Minority Against an Apathetic Majority
This column on the "gun-control paradox"—the fact that gun regulations continually fail in the US Congress despite being supported by around 90 percent of...
Latest news
Antitrust and Competition
The Kroger-Albertsons Merger Will Not Help Grocery Competition
Kroger and Albertsons say they need to merge to compete with Walmart. Claire Kelloway argues that what they really want is Walmart’s monopsony power, and permitting mergers on these grounds will only harm suppliers, workers, and consumers.
Research
Innovators Respond to Their Presidential Candidate Winning With More Innovation
Does an inventor’s political identity influence their productivity? In a new paper, Joseph Engelberg, Runjing Lu, William Mullins, and Richard Townsend examine the impacts of the 2008 and 2016 United States presidential elections on Democrat and Republican inventors, with a particular focus on the quantity and quality of patents after the country elects a new president.
Antitrust and Competition
Letter to the Editor: Former FTC and DOJ Chief Economists Urge Separation of Economic and Legal Analysis in Merger Guidelines
Seventeen former chief economists of the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division urge current Agency heads to separate the legal and economic analysis in the draft Merger Guidelines to strengthen the role of the latter in merger review.
Antitrust and Competition
Why the Kroger-Albertsons Merger Is a Mess for Consumers
Grocers Kroger and Albertsons want to merge, which would make them the second biggest retail food chain and, according to them, enhance their ability to compete with Walmart and Costco and offer lower prices to consumers. Christine P. Bartholomew writes that the promises of more competition and lower prices for consumers are unlikely to manifest, and thus the Federal Trade Commission should block the deal.
Book Excerpts
After Neoliberalism
The following is an excerpt from Martin Daunton's new book, "The Economic Government of the World: 1933-2023," out November 14.
Antitrust and Competition
US Taxpayers Should Not Be Subsidizing Harmful Big Oil Mergers
Chevron and ExxonMobil claim their announced mergers with Hess and Pioneer take advantage of market efficiencies, but a closer look reveals an antiquated tax provision likely sweetening these dangerous deals. Antitrust authorities must carefully review the serious risks entailed in these proposed mergers. In parallel, the United States federal government needs to end large tax-free reorganizations—the most egregious way in which American taxpayers are subsidizing monopolistic practices, writes Niko Lusiani.
Book Excerpts
Seeing Others
In an excerpt from her new book, Seeing Others, sociologist Michèle Lamont describes the impact of neoliberal ideas on the working class.
