The Role of the State

Herbert Hovenkamp writes that the court presiding over the Google Ad Tech case gave the government an important win. However, by relying on the per se tying rule instead of rule of reason, the court perpetuated a flawed court precedent that can preclude serious market analysis for competitive harms.

The Federal Trade Commission’s case against Meta for monopolizing personal social media through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp serves as a warning of allowing Big Tech companies to acquire nascent competitors in the artificial intelligence market through quasi-mergers that dodge government scrutiny. Based on new research, Alexandros Kazimirov argues that antitrust agencies can look at a combination of circumstantial evidence, including market product proximity, price premiums and product discontinuation, to help adjust their approach to keep AI markets contestable, rather than trying to restore contestability ten years from now.

In new research, Xuelin Li, Sijie Wang, Jiajie Xu, and Xiang Zheng find that the involvement of specialized venture capital firms influences a biotech startup’s drug portfolio by focusing research and development on fewer products.

The following is the second part to the transcript of Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson’s keynote at the 2025 Stigler Center Antitrust and...

A new ProMarket survey of scholars reveals that while most view federal funding cuts under the Trump administration as a major threat to academic freedom, nearly half also see ideological bias within universities as a serious issue. The survey also found that many disagree with Columbia’s approach of capitulation to the Trump administration’s demands, and would prefer to see universities defend themselves in court or through collective action.

The following is a transcript of Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson's Keynote Address at the 2025 Stigler Center Antitrust and Competition Conference. A transcript of Ferguson's accompanying interview with University of Chicago law professor Eric Posner, and the subsequent audience Q&A, will be published next week.

Andrey Mir writes that antitrust scholarship and enforcement seeking to break up platform monopolies overlook the benefits that these platforms provide because they are monopolies. He says the community must keep this in mind as it seeks to alleviate harms that any monopoly incurs to the economy.

Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson delivered a keynote address at the Stigler Center's 2025 Antitrust and Competition Conference, which focused on how economic concentration impacts the marketplace of ideas.

The concentration of news media has spurred concerns about their ability to protect the marketplace of ideas integral to the functioning of democracy. Based on new research, Marcel Garz and Mart Ots discuss why media consolidation may not lead to lower journalistic quality but still affects society through a decline in local news and original content.

Stacy Mitchell writes that the Neo-Brandeisian movement is as strong as ever. Despite its champions, Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, exiting their posts, grassroots momentum is only growing. Today, it’s in state legislatures and attorneys general offices where the movement is now advancing—and where future antitrust policy is being shaped.