Michael Vita

Michael Vita is the former deputy director for research and management in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics. His research has focused on industrial organization, econometrics, health-care competition, vertical restraints, and regulatory policy.

Over the course of a nearly four-decade career at the FTC, Vita held several senior leadership roles. He served as deputy director for research and management and, at one point, as acting director of the Bureau of Economics.

Earlier in his career, Vita served as assistant director for antitrust in the Bureau of Economics. In that role, he supervised economic analysis in numerous antitrust investigations and policy matters.

He previously served as deputy assistant director for economic policy analysis and as an economic adviser to Commissioner Roscoe Starek.

Vita began his career at the FTC as an economist in the Bureau of Economics.

He has published widely on topics that include retrospective evaluations of hospital mergers, “must-carry” regulations for cable television systems, “divorcement” regulations in petroleum refining and retailing, “any willing provider” regulations for health insurers, and vertical-restraints enforcement policy.

He earned a Ph.D. in economics and a master’s in economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and a bachelor’s from Penn State University.