America's Monopoly Problem

To find a selected list of further reading for the event, organized by topic, click here. 

To find a timeline of antitrust, big data, and privacy issues in the European Union, click here. 

You can also watch video of panel discussions at a related event we hosted with our partner, The Capitol Forum, here, here, and here.

In recent months, Americans have witnessed a burst of interest in a problem that most of us assumed was fixed long ago –monopolies. The Economist has chided the U.S. government for failing to enforce laws designed to prevent monopolies and promote competition. The White House released an unprecedented Executive Order calling for agencies to take steps to encourage competition. The Senate antitrust subcommittee held a lively hearing in which leaders from both parties agreed that antitrust enforcement agencies are not doing enough to defend competition in America.

Meanwhile, scholars ranging from Paul Krugman to Joseph Stiglitz have linked the return of monopoly to many of America’s biggest problems, including inequality, declining growth, and reduced job mobility. 

Join New America’s Open Markets Program on June 29 for a discussion exploring the growth of concentration in the American economy, its effects on American economic and political life, and potential solutions to restore and protect competition in America. The discussion will include panels with distinguished antitrust and competition policy experts and a keynote speech by The Honorable Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). 

To find a selected list of further reading for the event, organized by topic, click here. 

To find a timeline of antitrust, big data, and privacy issues in the European Union, click here. 

The Open Markets Program is also co-sponsoring a related discussion on June 30 at the National Press Club, hosted by our partner The Capitol Forum.

AGENDA

11:00 am  Does America Have a Monopoly Problem? What the Numbers Show

• The Lessons from Inequality
  
• The Lessons from Growth and Profits
  
• The Lessons from Independent Business
• The Lessons from Jobs

12:00 pm  Lunch Keynote – Senator Elizabeth Warren

1:00 pm  Other People's News and Ideas:  Monopoly and the Flow of Information

• Journalism in the Age of Facebook and Google
  
• Books and Music in the Age of Amazon and YouTube 

2:00 pm  Other People's Data:  Monopoly and Discrimination

• A Price Just for You – Discrimination in the Era of Big Data
  
• Introduction to Europe’s New General Data Protection Regulation
• The FCC’s Proposed Privacy Rules for ISPs
  
• Algorithms and Race

3:00 pm  Open and Democratic?  Antimonopoly in the 21st Century

• Getting Antimonopoly Right – Time to Return to Basics?
  
• Lessons from Net Neutrality for Search and Market Neutrality
  
• Lessons from Europe
  
• Lessons from the Microsoft Case
• FCC vs. FTC – A tale of two markets, and two philosophies

Confirmed Speakers:

• The Honorable Senator Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts
  
• Tim Wu, Columbia Law, author Does Google Content Degrade Google Search, author of The Master Switch
  
• Christian D’Cunha, Office of European Data Protection Supervisor 
  
• TJ Stiles, Two-time Pulitzer winning author, The First Tycoon and Custer’s Trials
• Guy Rolnik, Founder TheMarker, Deputy Publisher, Haaretz, and Professor, University of Chicago
• Marc Jarsulic, Vice President for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress
  
• Ashkan Soltani, Former Chief Technologist of the Federal Trade Commission, Contributor to two Pulitzer Prize winning articles, by the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal
  
• Albert Foer, Founder, American Antitrust Institute
  
• Melvin Gibbs, President, Content Creators Coalition, bassist, Grammy-nominated songwriter, formerly with Defunkt, Rollins Band, and currently with Harriet Tubman & Cassandra Wilson present Black Sun
• Martin Moore, Director Centre for the Study of Media, Communication, and Power, King’s College London, author “Tech Giants and Civic Power”
  
• Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, Director, Competition Law Forum, British Institute of International and Comparative Law
• Justin Schlosberg, Lecturer in Journalism and Media, University of London Birkbeck, “The Mission of Media in an Age of Monopoly” (for Respublica)
• Gary Reback, Carr & Ferrell, a leader of Microsoft antitrust case in 1998
  
• Jonathan Kanter, Antitrust Partner, Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft LLP
  
• Jeff Larson, Data Editor, Propublica, co-author “What Algorithmic Injustice Looks Like in Real Life”
  
• Maurice Stucke, Professor of Law, University of Tennessee, Author of Big Data and Competition Policy (Oxford 2016) and Virtual Competition: The Promise and Perils of the Algorithm Driven Economy (Harvard - forthcoming)
  
• Lina Khan, Author of "Market Power and Inequality: The Antitrust Counterrevolution and its Discontents" (Harvard Law & Policy Review - forthcoming)
• Laura Moy, Acting Director, Communications and Technology, Georgetown Law School, Fellow at the Open Technology Institute
  
• Barry C. Lynn, Director Open Markets Program, author of Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism