Economics at the FTC: Estimating Harm from Deception and Analyzing Mergers

Economists in the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics perform economic analysis support dual missions to protect consumers and competition by preventing anticompetitive, deceptive, unfair business practices through law enforcement, advocacy, education. This article first presents summaries analyses that FTC economists performed estimate consumer harm from two different types deception involved misleading information about lease terms suppression negative product reviews. The essay next turns mergers: We consider vertical issues arose a semiconductor merger; then we provide discussion how complementarity between hospitals may affect hospital mergers.