Legal Director Sandeep Vaheesan speaks at a webinar discussion about what the guiding focus of U.S. competition law should be.

The American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section hosted a virtual discussion on Feb. 10, 2022 focusing on the theme, “Is Consumer Welfare in Hot Water?”

The panel addressed competition issues affecting labor markets and the welfare of workers, including:

• Labor monopsony

• The increased use of restrictive contractual clauses in labor agreements, including noncompetes and nondisclosure agreements

• Information sharing and benchmarking activity among competing employers

• The role of other federal agencies in ensuring fair competition in labor markets

• The relationship between antitrust law and collective bargaining efforts in the “gig economy”

Participants:

• Sandeep Vaheesan, legal director at the Open Markets Institute

• Diana Moss, president of the American Antitrust Institute

• Tommaso Valletti, head of the Department of Economics and Public Policy at Imperial College Business School in London and the former chief competition economist of the European Commission.

• Carl Shapiro, professor at the Haas School of Business and the Department of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley, and former deputy assistant attorney general for economics in the Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division during the Clinton and Obama administrations.

• Dennis Carlton, professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and former deputy assistant attorney general for economics in the DOJ Antitrust Division during the George W. Bush administration.

• Maureen Ohlhausen, chair of the Global Antitrust and Competition practice at Baker Botts LLP and former FTC acting chair and a commissioner.

Moderator:

• Bill Kovacic, law professor at The George Washington Law School and a former chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Read the full webinar description via the American Bar Association here.