ICLE Chief Economist Brian Albrecht participated in a panel hosted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute on the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation of competition and consolidation in the grocery industry. Video of the full event is embedded below.

ICLE Chief Economist Brian Albrecht’s debate with Evan Starr on the Federal Trade Commission’s ban of noncompete agreements was featured in an episode of the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s Our Curious Amalgam podcast. Audio of the full episode is embedded below.

ICLE Chief Economist Brian Albrecht was a guest on the Qualified Opinions podcast to discuss whether inflation is really the product of greed, whether greater economic means equals less incentive for competition, and what the right approach to antitrust policy should be. Audio of the full episode is embedded below.

ICLE Chief Economist Brian Albrecht was a participant in a virtual debate hosted by the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Law Section on the economics of noncompete agreements, and whether the evidence justifies the Federal Trade Commission’s sweeping ban. Video of the full event is embedded below.

ICLE Chief Economist Brian Albrecht was a guest on the Future of Freedom podcast to discuss the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recent decision to ban nearly all noncompete agreements in employment contracts. Audio of the full episode is embedded below.

The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) announced yesterday that it has filed suit, along with 29 states and the District of Columbia, charging Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and its subsidiary Ticketmaster LLC with monopolizing the live-events industry in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that Live Nation’s so-called “flywheel” (its bundle of concert promotions, artist management, venue ownership, and ticketing services) allows it to extend its dominance in one market into the other adjacent markets. It seeks both a jury trial and structural relief, with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland declaring that: “It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”

Read the full piece here.

The Federal Trade Commission has shifted focus in recent months away from its traditional goal of protecting consumers and toward one of protecting workers instead. Most recently, the agency issued a rule that would ban essentially all noncompete agreements in employment contracts. The rule would forbid new noncompetes, and in existing contracts, only noncompetes covering senior executives would remain enforceable.

Read the full piece here.

Competition is the driving force behind the success of markets. It’s hard to imagine a thriving market economy without the presence of competitive forces.

But how do we actually measure competition? I use the term all the time, but do we actually have a measure of it? This question is more complex than it may seem at first glance.

Read the full piece here.

Like Jason Voorhees in each new iteration of the “Friday the 13th” franchise, net neutrality is coming back from the dead. With a Democratic majority now in place on the Federal Communications Commission, the commissioners recently voted 3-2 to reinstate net neutrality rules the FCC repealed in 2018. This decision to reclassify how broadband is regulated also sets the stage for even more expansive rules than the ones that existed before.

Read the full piece here.