IGF-USA 2021 Session

Reexamining Antitrust in a Digital Economy

Thursday, July 15

3:00 – 4:00 PM EDT

Few policy issues have seen the sort of meteoric rise in attention that antitrust has received over the past several years. Driven by the growing importance of digital markets and online platforms, antitrust has moved to the forefront of our modern political landscape. Perhaps not surprisingly, various reform proposals have started to emerge from both sides of the political spectrum. 

Advocates of reform argue that the United States’ current approach to competition policy is ill-equipped to deal with the problems posed by a twenty-first century, digital economy and that a new approach is needed to reign in the anticompetitive conduct engaged in by the dominant firms. On the other hand, skeptics of reform argue that our long-standing approach to antitrust enforcement is robust enough to handle these problems effectively and that any proposals for reform should be narrowly tailored to the specific issues they are trying to address. 

This panel will be an in-depth discussion surrounding the United States’ unique approach to antitrust law as well as several of the reform proposals that are currently under consideration. It will also highlight some of the finer points of the current debate surrounding antitrust reform and the impact that reform is likely to have on various sectors of the economy.

Dr. David Teece

Chairman and Principal Executive Officer, Berkeley Research Group

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Berkeley Research Group, LLC, was cofounded and is led by Dr. David J. Teece, a renowned economist and an authority on matters of industrial organization, technological change, and innovation, particularly as it relates to antitrust and competition policy and intellectual property.

He is the Professor in Global Business and director of the Tusher Initiative for the Management of Intellectual Capital at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and a former member of the board of overseers for the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Teece has a PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and has held teaching and research positions at Stanford University and Oxford University. He has received nine honorary doctorates.

Dr. Teece has over thirty years of experience as an active consultant performing economic, business, and financial consulting services to businesses and governments around the world. He has worked on matters in industries ranging from music recording to DRAMS, software, lumber, and petroleum, and has testified in both federal and state court, before Congress, and before the Federal Trade Commission, as well as in several international jurisdictions.

He is the author of more than two hundred books and articles (visit Dr. Teece’s Google Scholar page), and is the coeditor of Industrial & Corporate Change (Oxford University Press). According to Science Watch (November/December 2005), he is the lead author on the most cited article in economics and business worldwide from 1995 to 2005. In 2020, he was ranked as the world’s most-cited scholar in the combined field of business and management in an analysis of science-wide author citations published in PLOS Biology, a peer-reviewed journal.

He has been recognized by Accenture as one of the world’s top-fifty business intellectuals and was named to the 2020 Thinkers50 Hall of Fame. In addition, he is among the “A-List of Management Academics 2011,” an honorary group of thirty accomplished and distinguished US business professors. Dr. Teece was chairman and cofounder (1988-2007) and vice chairman (2007-2009) of LECG.

Elyse Dorsey

Adjunct Professor, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University

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Elyse Dorsey is an Adjunct Professor at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School. She recently served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Her work at the Antitrust Division encompassed a wide array of legal and policy matters, primarily relating to IP and technology issues, the Division’s appellate and amicus brief programs, and its international and competition policy efforts. Elyse joined the Division from the Federal Trade Commission, where she served as Attorney Advisor to Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips, and completed a detail to the Office of Policy Planning. While at the Commission, she advised on key cases, matters, and policies affecting industries across the economy — from digital and tech to pharmaceuticals and hospitals and more — and on issues related to the Commission’s Hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century.

Prior to that, Elyse practiced at an international law firm where her work focused upon cutting edge competition, privacy, and consumer protection issues in courts and jurisdictions across the globe, including the U.S. Supreme Court. After graduating law school, Elyse served as law clerk to the Honorable E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Elyse earned her law degree summa cum laude from Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and her undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Clemson University.

Dr. Ling Ling Ang

Associate Director, NERA Economic Consulting

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Dr. Xiaoling (Ling Ling) Lim Ang is an economic expert witness specializing in antitrust, banking, consumer financial services, consumer protection, securities, and labor economics. She focuses on applying rigorous economic and econometric methods in civil litigation, regulatory actions, and compliance matters. She has deep experience leading teams working with large, complex data.

Dr. Ang has submitted reports or testified in matters in federal, state, and administrative law court, consulted on Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and Federal Trade Commission investigations, and advised bank and non-bank clients on consumer financial services compliance issues. She has testified or consulted on issues related to unfair and deceptive acts and practices, servicing, mortgages, Truth in Lending (Regulation Z, the federal rule on cost of credit calculations and disclosures), PACE financing, installment lending, and short-term lending.

Prior to working in economic consulting, Dr. Ang worked as an economist at two financial regulators: the CFPB and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. At the CFPB Dr. Ang served as the lead economist on various rulemakings: TILA/RESPA (integration of mortgage disclosures), a rulemaking related to deposit products, interagency appraisal rulemakings, an Equal Credit Opportunity Act amendment, and larger participant rulemakings in student loan servicing and international money transfers. She also worked on disclosure testing, randomized control trials, and a Congressional report on private student loans.

Dr. Ang’s antitrust related work includes matters related to consumer financial services, fixed-income securities, insurance, online retail, consumer packaged goods, and electronic components. Her securities experience includes securities class action, enforcement, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters.

Dr. Ang is a frequent speaker and author on financial services issues, including payments, mortgages, and fintech.

Rachel Bovard

Senior Director of Policy, Conservative Partnership Institute

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Rachel has over a decade of experience fighting for conservative policies in Washington. Beginning in 2006, she served in both the House and Senate in various roles including as legislative director for Senator Rand Paul.

Rachel went on to serve as policy director for the Senate Steering Committee under the successive chairmanships of Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), where she advised Committee members on strategy related to floor procedure and policy matters. In the House, she worked as senior legislative assistant to Congressman Donald Manzullo (R-IL), and Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX). She also served as director of policy services for The Heritage Foundation.

In 2013, she was named one of National Journal’s Most Influential Women in Washington under 35. Her policy analysis and punditry appear widely in print and on television.

Along with CPI’s Chairman, Sen. Jim DeMint, is the co-author of Conservative: Knowing What to Keep. She is also a Fellow at Defense Priorities. Rachel also serves on the board of CNP Action and the Advisory Board of The American Conservative.

Born and raised in Dansville, NY, she received her bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude from Grove City College in 2006. She also holds a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. In addition to her public policy pursuits, Rachel is an accomplished sommelier, a wine educator, and a diploma candidate in the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.

Moderator

Ben Brody

Senior Reporter, Protocol

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Ben Brody (@ BenBrodyDC) is a senior reporter at Protocol focusing on how Congress, courts and agencies affect the online world we live in. He formerly covered tech policy and lobbying (including antitrust, Section 230 and privacy) at Bloomberg News, where he previously reported on the influence industry, government ethics and the 2016 presidential election. Before that, Ben covered business news at CNNMoney and AdAge, and all manner of stories in and around New York. He still loves appearing on the New York news radio he grew up with.