Our People » Barry Lynn
Barry C. Lynn is the executive director of the Open Markets Institute. Over the past two decades, Lynn pioneered understanding of how the monopolies of the 21st century threaten our democracy, individual liberties, security, and prosperity. Lynn’s efforts to update anti-monopoly law and thinking for the digital era have been fully embraced by the Biden administration and have shaped the thinking of policymakers and scholars around the world. His warnings on structural flaws in international systems predicted today’s supply chain crises, and his proposed remedies have been widely studied by the U.S. government, Europe, Asia, the IMF, and the OECD.
Lynn developed his thinking in three books — End of the Line (2005), Cornered (2010), and Liberty from All Masters (2020), as well as numerous articles, speeches, and congressional testimony. Lynn’s thinking has been profiled in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Politico, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and CBS, and his work has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, French, and Danish. Lynn was previously the executive editor of Global Business Magazine and a correspondent for The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse in South America. He holds a B.A. in English from Columbia University.
In this issue, we look at efforts by Big Tech and the Trump Administration to disrupt European democracy, and explore Amazon’s latest move to consolidate control over online retail and advertising.
Open Markets Executive Director Barry Lynn spoke in late January in Brussels at a conference titled A Perfect Storm: A Time of Truth for Europe, hosted by Cristina Caffarra and The Capitol Forum. Lynn spoke on a panel with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, among others. Other speakers included economist Simon Johnson, who recently won the Nobel Prize, MEP Andreas Schwab, former German Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Sven Giegold, Ambassador Katherine Tai, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, FT Columnist Rana Foroohar, UK MP Chi Onwurah, MEP Alexandra Geese, and Marietje Schaake.
Executive director Barry Lynn argues that regulations limiting the power of large brewers have fostered competition and innovation in the U.S. beer industry, similar to how laws helped diversify the wine market.
In this issue, we look at the lessons of the U.S. presidential election, and some next steps. We also explore how the EU’s AI strategy might concentrate even more power in the hands of Big Tech.
Executive director Barry Lynn was featured on Letters and Politics discussing how Google has expanded its dominance across various sectors.
Executive director Barry Lynn contemplates if Trump would allow Lina Khan to remain as FTC chair, given his corporate-aligned motives rather than genuine populism.
In this issue, Open Markets policy counsel Tara Pincock — who helped write the original lawsuit against Google — discusses a potential breakup.
Executive director Barry Lynn appears on Keen on arguing that that big tech monopolies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft pose the greatest threat to American democracy, requiring urgent antitrust action to safeguard freedom
Executive director Barry Lynn points out that while there’s growing recognition of the harms of monopolies within the Democratic Party, the continuation of robust antitrust enforcement depends on sustained political will from future leaders.
Barry Lynn authors Harper's October 2024 cover story, "The Antitrust Revolution: Liberal democracy’s last stand against Big Tech."