The Role of the State

In new research, Dominic Smith and Sergio Ocampo show that retail concentration has increased in most markets across the United States, with the expansion of large retail chains driving the trend toward a more concentrated retail landscape. Their findings are based on new product-level census data for all U.S. retailers. They explain the implications of this increased concentration for the everyday shopping experience of clothing, electronics, groceries, and much more.

The following is an adapted excerpt from “Monopoly Politics: Competition and Learning in the Evolution of Policy Regimes” by Erik Peinert, now out at Oxford University Press. 

South Korea’s proposed Online Platform Regulation Act has taken multiple turns amid political upheaval, pressure from the United States, and a fiercely competitive domestic tech market. Hwang Lee explores how global geopolitics, strong domestic platforms, and the "Brussels Effect" are reshaping the country’s approach to digital regulation.

Corporations can sidestep prosecution by cooperating with the government and offering up employees to avoid their own criminal liability. Ellen S. Podgor discusses two prominent reasons why the current approach to corporate criminality is inefficient.

ProMarket interviews Magali Eben and Giorgio Monti about changes to the disclosure policy of the The Academic Society for Competition Law (ASCOLA) and the broader conversation on conflicts of interest in antitrust and competition scholarship.

In new research, Claire Liu and Jared Stanfield examine how relationships between corporate leaders and the United States president enable firms to capture regulation and avoid antitrust scrutiny.

Herbert Hovenkamp reviews Epic Games’ lawsuits against Apple and Google for restraining users’ ability to access Epic’s offerings through third-party app stores. A comparison of the two ecosystems sheds light on what remedies would improve benefits to consumers and how the Department of Justice’s own lawsuit against Apple may fare.

Diana Moss reviews four recent examples of the Trump administration weaponizing antitrust and regulation to stifle opposing ideological and political viewpoints.

As private corporations gain unprecedented control over public data, Americans are losing access to the information that underpins democracy and critical aspects of their lives. D. Victoria Baranetsky argues that this rise of secrecy—driven by the rising value of data and government privatization—demands not just transparency, but a bold commitment to anti-secrecy as essential to democratic governance.

It is an economic truism that markets operate more efficiently and fairly when there is more transparency. However, in the case of sovereign debt markets, the virtues of transparency are partially offset by its costs, writes Mark Weidemaier. Without an international regulator or bankruptcy court, opacity sometimes advances the public interest, including by helping financially distressed governments protect assets.