Philip Drummond, an Associate at The Brattle Group specializing in securities litigation and capital markets, welcomes Kate Volkova, an Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Melbourne, to discuss her award-winning research on antitrust enforcement. Kate’s expertise spans corporate governance and regulatory oversight, with a particular focus on the impacts of regulator actions on corporate policies and dynamics.
In this episode, Philip and Kate delve into “Antitrust Enforcement Increases Economic Activity,” a paper examining the economic effects of US Department of Justice antitrust suits from the 1970s onward. Kate and her coauthors won the 2024 Brattle Group FIRN Best Paper Award at the Australian Financial Research Network’s Annual Conference for their work. Kate details how the team compiled a comprehensive dataset of DOJ lawsuits and uncovered evidence that robust antitrust action fosters new business entry, employment, and rising wages.
The conversation also highlights methodological challenges and the wider economic policy implications of enforcing competition.
The opinions expressed are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employer or its clients. This podcast is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.
The paper discussed in this episode can be found here:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4539741
Timestamped Overview
00:00 Intro
01:36 Kate & Phillip Introduce the paper on Antitrust Enforcement and Market Power
05:13 Local Enforcement Boosts Competition
08:55 Incomplete DOJ Lawsuit Records
12:42 DOJ Enforcement Impact on Industries
16:19 Revising Paper: Economic Impact Analysis
17:14 Future Research Insights
