The Global Antitrust Institute (“GAI”) respectfully submits this Comment to the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in connection with their Request for Information on Merger Enforcement (“Merger RFI”) This comment addresses the questions...

Recent research indicates that labor market power has contributed to wage inequality and economic stagnation. Although the antitrust laws prohibit firms from restricting competition in labor markets like in product markets, the government does little to address the labor market problem and...

We evaluate the impact of the Washington State Attorney General's enforcement campaign against employee no-poaching clauses in franchising contracts, which unfolded from 2018 through early 2020. Implementing a staggered difference-in-differences research design using Burning Glass Technologies...

The purpose of this working paper is to bring a behavioral lens to the review and analysis of the competition literature on labour market power, monopsony, and oligopsony, the behavioral and more conventional labour market economics literatures that are relevant to labour market competition and...

As of late, there has been a concerted push in the Biden administration, backed by prominent academics, to expand the application of antitrust law against major employers who exercise monopsony power that reduces aggregate demand and thus leaves too many workers on the sidelines. The effort...

This paper discusses the problem of buyer power in labor markets and proposes a framework for more interventionist enforcement under existing merger law. While a common core of basic economic assumptions supports increased enforcement as a general matter, the choice among several available...

In academic and public debate about the increasing imbalance of power between employers and workers, the role of antitrust policy and enforcement has heretofore gotten little attention. This paper shows that where there was once a sharp border — the border of the firm — where labor law ended...

Recent empirical studies have revealed that labor market monopsony is far more common than previously thought, and that there is a strong correlation between wage suppression and labor market concentration. Yet few antitrust cases have been brought by workers against employers who exercise...

Addressing growing income inequality in the United States should begin with the plight of low-skilled workers, many subject to below subsistence income and stressful and dangerous working conditions. Antitrust cannot offer a comprehensive solution to this problem. It can, however, meaningfully...

This paper provides a review of recent developments in the enforcement of U.S. antitrust law in labor markets. It surveys cases and regulatory efforts, and address recurring questions regarding, among other things, market definition, the role of the consumer welfare standard, and merger analysis