The Institutions of Contestability: Governance, Contract, and Exit
At the International Center for Law & Economics’ March 13 conference in Rome—“Substance over Slogans: Competition and the Wealth of Nations”—the final panel, “The Institutions of Contestability: Governance, Contract, and Exit,” featured Geoffrey A. Manne, M. Todd Henderson, Maria Maciá, Randal C. Picker, and Pierre Régibeau. The discussion shifted focus from antitrust doctrine to the broader institutional conditions that make markets competitive—firm formation, capital access, labor mobility, governance, and exit.
Panelists then explored how those institutions shape competition in practice, debating the relative role of antitrust alongside bankruptcy, corporate governance, and venture capital. The core point was straightforward: competition depends less on enforcement and more on whether systems enable entry, experimentation, and failure.
Video of the full panel is embedded below.