Herbert Hovenkamp

Herbert Hovenkamp is the James G. Dinan University Professor, Penn Law and the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2008 won the Justice Department’s John Sherman Award for lifetime contributions to antitrust law. His legal history writing includes The Opening of American Law: Neoclassical Legal Thought, 1870-1970 (Oxford, 2015); Enterprise and American Law, 1836-1937 (Harvard, 1991). His principal antitrust scholarship includes Antitrust Law (with the late Phillip E. Areeda and the late Donald F. Turner, 1978-2020).

Antitrust and Competition

Are Monopolists or Cartels the True Source of Anticompetitive US Political Power?

Trade associations are often the biggest obstacles to competitive markets, especially when those organizations use their influence to change public policy in...

Antitrust and Competition

A Posner-Stigler Smoking Gun?

A memo from George Stigler and Richard Posner to the Reagan administration was recently unearthed. To understand the meaning behind the memo,...

Antitrust and Competition

The Sherman Act and Abuse of Dominance in the Age of Networks

In order to be more effective in networked markets, the US should adopt a version of the EU’s “abuse of dominance” standard...

Antitrust and Competition

Antitrust and the FTC: Franchise Restraints on Worker Mobility

As currently formulated, antitrust’s rule of reason approach is not the best tool to deal with vertical noncompete agreements that limit worker...

Antitrust and Competition

How Will the FTC Evaluate Vertical Mergers?

The Federal Trade Commission’s recent withdrawal of its 2020 vertical merger guidelines is flatly incorrect as a matter of microeconomic theory and...

Antitrust and Competition

The DOJ’s “New Madison” Doctrine Disregards Both the Economics and the Law of Innovation

DOJ’s “New Madison” approach to antitrust and intellectual property law dictates that antitrust should stay out of disputes over patents, even when...

Antitrust and Competition

Why the FTC Antitrust Case Against Facebook Was Dismissed

Many of the problems with the FTC complaint against Facebook that was dismissed in court last month appear to be fixable. However,...

Antitrust and Competition

Congress’ Antitrust War On China and American Consumers

The latest bills currently debated in Congress regarding Big Tech—the US Innovation and Competition Act that was passed by the Senate this...

Antitrust and Competition

Eliminating Baseball’s Antitrust Exemption Won’t End the Georgia Political Boycott

There are good arguments for getting rid of baseball's long-standing exemption from antitrust laws, but the reason cited by Republican Senators angry...

Antitrust and Competition

Identifying the Market In the Facebook Antitrust Case

Facebook can be a monopolist over a cluster of noncompeting products that do not fit the standard economic definition of a “market.”...

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Latest news

Regulation

Why Have Uninsured Depositors Become De Facto Insured?

Michael Ohlrogge

Due to a change in how the FDIC resolves failed banks, uninsured deposits have become de facto insured. Not only is this dangerous for risk in the banking system, it is not what Congress intends the FDIC to do, writes Michael Ohlrogge.

Antitrust and Competition

Merger Law Reaches Acquirer Incentives and Private Equity Strategies

Steven Salop

Steven C. Salop argues that Section 7 of the Clayton Act prohibits mergers in which the acquiring firm’s unilateral incentives and business strategy are likely to lessen market competition.

Antitrust and Competition

Tim Wu Responds to Letter by Former Agency Chief Economists

Tim Wu

Former special assistant to the president for technology and competition policy Tim Wu responds to the November 27 letter signed by former chief economists at the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department Antitrust Division calling for a separation of the legal and economic analysis in the draft Merger Guidelines.

Book Reviews

Can the Public Moderate Social Media?

Surya Gowda

ProMarket student editor Surya Gowda reviews the arguments made by Paul Gowder in his new book, The Networked Leviathan: For Democratic Platforms.

Income Inequality

Uninhibited Campaign Donations Risks Creating Oligarchy

Valentino Larcinese, Alberto Parmigiani

In new research, Valentino Larcinese and Alberto Parmigiani find that the 1986 Reagan tax cuts led to greater campaign spending from wealthy individuals, who benefited the most from this policy. The authors argue that a very permissive system of political finance, combined with the erosion of tax progressivity, created the conditions for the mutual reinforcement of economic and political disparities. The result was an inequality spiral hardly compatible with democratic ideals.

ESG, Corporate Governance & Future of the Firm

Did the Meme Stock Revolution Actually Change Anything?

Dhruv Aggarwal, Albert H. Choi, Alex Lee

Many financial commentators thought that the surge of retail investors participating in the stock market, the most notable of whom boosted “meme stocks” like GameStop, would democratize corporate governance and improve prosocial firm behavior, including the promotion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. In new research, Dhruv Aggarwal, Albert H. Choi, and Yoon-Ho Alex Lee find evidence that the exact opposite took place.

Antitrust and Competition

The Kroger-Albertsons Merger Will Not Help Grocery Competition

Claire Kelloway

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.

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Herbert Hovenkamp

Latest news

Why Have Uninsured Depositors Become De Facto Insured?

Merger Law Reaches Acquirer Incentives and Private Equity Strategies

Tim Wu Responds to Letter by Former Agency Chief Economists

Can the Public Moderate Social Media?

Uninhibited Campaign Donations Risks Creating Oligarchy

Did the Meme Stock Revolution Actually Change Anything?

The Kroger-Albertsons Merger Will Not Help Grocery Competition

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