The Regulatory Revolution at the FTC

A Thirty-Year Perspective on Competition and Consumer Protection

Edited by James C. Cooper

Provides an historical analysis of the regulatory practices at the FTC during the late 1970's, and the resulting changes during the early 1980's, and its impact on the present
Focuses on the continuing debate about the FTC's current and future mission
Essays are prepared by current and former FTC competition and consumer protection officials, and top economists and legal scholars of regulation
Provides an analysis of the disciplining role that economics can play in policy making
Concludes with a discussion between several current and former FTC Commissioners, and one former Chairman, about the lessons learned since the "regulatory revolution" and how these lessons can and should inform the FTC's priorities today and into the future

The Regulatory Revolution at the FTC

A Thirty-Year Perspective on Competition and Consumer Protection

Edited by James C. Cooper

Description

In the 1970s, the Federal Trade Commission had embarked on an activist consumer protection and antitrust agenda which resulted in severe public and congressional backlash, including calls to abolish the agency. Beginning in 1981, under the direction of Chairman James Miller, the FTC started down a new path of economically-oriented policymaking. This new approach helped save the FTC and laid the groundwork for it to grow into the world-class consumer protection and antritrust agency that it is today.

The Regulatory Revolution at the FTC examines this period of transition in light of continuing debate about the FTC's mission. Editor James Campbell Cooper has assembled contributions from leading economists and scholars, including many of the central figures in the Miller-era Commission and today's FTC, who provide a comprehensive and revealing story about the importance of economic analysis in regulatory decision-making. Together, they foster a crucial understanding of the evolution of the FTC from an agency on the brink of extinction to one widely respected for its performance and economic sophistication.

The Regulatory Revolution at the FTC

A Thirty-Year Perspective on Competition and Consumer Protection

Edited by James C. Cooper

Foreword: James C. Cooper
INTRODUCTION:
PLANTING THE SEEDS OF THE REGULATORY REVOLUTION
Chapter 1: James C. Miller
Causes and Implications of the Regulatory Revolution at the FTC
Chapter 2: Panel Discussion
Politics and Policy in 1981
PART I:
JURISDICTION, POLICY, AND PROCEDURE
Chapter 3: William E. Kovacic
The Federal Trade Commission and the Assignment of Regulatory Tasks
Chapter 4: Julie Brill
The Future of FTC Jurisdiction Over Antitrust and Consumer Protection: A Commentary
Chapter 5: Joshua D. Wright & Angela Diveley
Do Expert Agencies Outperform Generalist Judges? Some Preliminary Evidence from the Federal Trade Commission
Chapter 6: A. Douglas Melamed
Paradigm Shopping: Section 5, the FTC, and the Courts
PART II:
CONSUMER PROTECTION
Chapter 7: Fred S. McChesney
Consumer Protection and James Miller at the Federal Trade Commission
Chapter 8: J. Howard Beales, III, Timothy J. Muris & Robert Pitofsky
In Defense of the Pfizer Factors
Chapter 9: Paul H. Rubin & Thomas M. Lenard
The FTC Then and Now: Privacy
Chapter 10: Paul A. Pautler
Regulation and Behavioral Economics in the Post-Miller FTC
PART III:
ANTITRUST
Chapter 11: Richard S. Higgins & Mark Perelman
Tying to Mitigate the Deadweight Loss of Monopoly Pricing
Chapter 12: Daniel A. Crane
Section 5 and the Innovation Curve
CONCLUSION:
IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE FTC ENFORCEMENT
Chapter 13: Panel Discussion
Lessons for Setting Priorities
Index

The Regulatory Revolution at the FTC

A Thirty-Year Perspective on Competition and Consumer Protection

Edited by James C. Cooper

Author Information

Edited by James C. Cooper, Director, Research and Policy, Law & Economics Center, George Mason University School of Law

James Campbell Cooper is the Director of Research and Policy at the Law & Economics Center, and a lecturer in law at George Mason University School of Law. He previously spent several years at the Federal Trade Commission serving as an advisor to Commissioner William E. Kovacic, and Acting Director of the FTC's Office of Policy Planning. Before serving at the FTC, James Cooper worked in the antitrust group at Crowell & Moring LLP in Washington, DC. His research has appeared in publications including the Antitrust Law Journal, Boston University Law Review, International Journal of Industrial Organization, Journal of Regulatory Economics, and the International Review of Law & Economics. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from Emory University and a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law, where he was a Levy Fellow and a member of the George Mason Law Review.

Contributors:

James C. Miller, (former FTC Commissioner) - Chapter 1: Causes and Implications of the Regulatory Revolution at the FTC

William E. Kovacic, (Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy at the George Washington University Law School; former FTC Chairman and General Counsel) - Chapter 3: The Future of FTC Jurisdiction over Antitrust and Consumer Protection

Julie Brill, (current FTC Commissioner) - Chapter 4: The Future of FTC Jurisdiction Over Antitrust and Consumer Protection: A Commentary

Joshua D. Wright, (current FTC Commissioner), and Angela Diveley, (associate with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US, LLP) - Chapter 5: Do Expert Agencies Outperform Generalist Judges? Some Preliminary Evidence from the Federal Trade Commission

A. Douglas Melamed, (Member of the District of Columbia Bar; author of one of the most influential works in law & economics, and has served as Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division) - Chapter 6: Paradigm Shopping: Section 5, the FTC, and the Courts

Fred S. McChesney, (University of Miami: de la Cruz/Mentschikoff Professor of Economics and Law) - Chapter 7: Consumer Protection and James Miller at the Federal Trade Commission: A Thirty-Year Perspective

J. Howard Beales, III, (Professor of Strategic Management and Public Policy,
George Washington University School of Business; former Director of the Buruea of Consumer Protection at the FTC), and Timothy J. Muris, (Foundation Professor of Law, George Mason University;
former Chairman of the FTC), and Robert Pitofsky, (Joseph and Madeline Sheehy Professor of Antitrust and Trade Regulation Law, Georgetown University Law Center; former Chairman of the FTC) - Chapter 8: In Defense of the Pfizer Factors

Paul H. Rubin, (Emory University and Technology Policy Institute) and Thomas M. Lenard, (Technology Policy Institute) - Chapter 9: The FTC Then and Now: Privacy

Paul A. Pautler, (Deputy Director for Consumer Protection in the Bureau of Economics at the FTC) - Chapter 10: Regulation and Behavioral Economics at the FTC

Richard S. Higgins, (Principal, Finance Scholars Group) & Mark Perelman, (Quantitative Analyst, PineBridge Investments) - Chapter 11: Tying to Mitigate the Deadweight Loss of Monopoly Pricing

Daniel A. Crane, (Law Professor, University of Michigan, and author of: The Institutional Structure of Antitrust Enforcement, Oxford University Press, 2011) - Chapter 12: Section 5 of the FTC Act