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Event Description

The Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Economics and the Tobin Center for Economic Policy at Yale University virtually hosted the 13th Annual FTC Microeconomics Conference on November 5 and 6, 2020. This event brought together scholars working in areas related to the FTC’s antitrust, consumer protection, and public policy missions.

The scientific committee for the conference was:

  • Andrew Caplin (New York University)
  • Philip Haile (Yale University)
  • Justine Hastings (Brown University)

Organizers: Ted Rosenbaum (FTC) and Yan Lau (FTC)

Staff Contact: Alexander Avramov (202-326-3003)

In light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, this year’s conference was held virtually.

SPONSORS

This conference was sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics and the Tobin Center for Economic Policy at Yale University.

REGISTRATION

The registration period has passed. We will use your email address to contact you with information about the conference and will share your name and email address with the conference co-sponsors. The FTC Act and other laws we administer permit the collection of your pre-registration contact information and the comments you file to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. For additional information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see the Commission's system for mailing lists. For more details, please see the FTC Privacy Policy.

ATTENDING THE WORKSHOP

The conference is free and open to the public. The registration period has passed.

  • Thursday, November 5

    10:00 a.m. 

    Welcome

    Andrew Sweeting (Federal Trade Commission) and Steven Berry (Yale University & Tobin Center for Economic Policy)

    10:15 a.m.

    Paper Session

    Chaired by Ted Rosenbaum & Yan Lau (Federal Trade Commission)

    Runshan Fu (Carnegie Melon University) with Manmohan Aseri (University of Pittsburgh), Param Vir Singh (Carnegie Melon University), and Kannan Srinivasan (Carnegie Melon University), “Un”Fair Machine Learning Algorithms

    Discussant: Susan Athey (Stanford Graduate School of Business)

    Brett Hollenbeck (UCLA) with Renato Zaterka Giroldo (Cornerstone Research), Winning Big: Scale and Success in Retail 

    Discussant: Nancy Rose (MIT)

    11:45 a.m. 

    Break

    1:00 p.m. 

    Keynote Address, "Fact-Based Policy: New Opportunities to Improve Policy with Data, Science and Technology"

    Justine Hastings (Brown University)

    1:40 p.m.

    Break

    2:00 p.m. 

    Paper Session

    Chaired by Justine Hastings (Brown University)

    Christopher M. Whaley (RAND Corporation) with Daniel R. Arnold (University of California – Berkeley), Who Pays for Health Care Costs? The Effects of Health Care Prices on Wages

    Discussant: Robert Town (University of Texas at Austin)

    Leemore Dafny (Harvard Business School) with David Cutler (Harvard University), David C. Grabowski (Harvard Medical School), Steven Lee (Brown University), and Christopher Ody (Analysis Group), How Vertical Integration of Healthcare Providers can Reduce Competition in Healthcare Markets: The Case of Hospital-Owned Skilled Nursing Facilities

    Discussant: Benjamin Handel (University of California – Berkeley)

    3:30 p.m. 

    First Day of Conference Concludes

     

    Friday, November 6

    9:00 a.m. 

    Keynote Address, "Identifying Demand through Quasi-Experimental Variation"

    Phil Haile (Yale University)

    9:40 a.m. 

    Break

    10:00 a.m. 

    Paper Session

    Chaired by Phil Haile (Yale University)

    Chenyu Yang (University of Maryland) with Ying Fan (University of Michigan), Merger, Product Variety and Firm Entry: the Retail Craft Beer Market in California

    Discussant: Katja Seim (Yale University)

    Alexander MacKay (Harvard Business School) with Zach Y. Brown (University of Michigan), Competition in Pricing Algorithms

    Discussant: John Asker (UCLA)

    11:30 a.m. 

    Break

    1:00 p.m.

    Keynote Address, "Using Choice Data to Regulate Product Presentation"

    Andrew Caplin (New York University)

    1:40 p.m. 

    Break

    2:00 p.m.

    Paper Session

    Chaired by Andrew Caplin (New York University)

    Megan Hunter (Boston College Carroll School of Management), Chasing Stars: Firms' Strategic Responses to Online Consumer Ratings

    Discussant: Greg Lewis (Microsoft)

    Bradley J. Larsen (Stanford University) with Patrick J. Kehoe (Stanford University) and Elena Pastorino (Stanford University), Dynamic Competition in the Era of Big Data

    Discussant: Benjamin Shiller (Brandeis University)

    3:30 p.m.

    Conference Concludes

FTC Privacy Policy

Under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) or other laws, we may be required to disclose to outside organizations the information you provide when you pre-register. The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments, whether filed in paper or electronic form, and as a matter of discretion, we make every effort to remove home contact information for individuals from the public comments before posting them on the FTC website.

The FTC Act and other laws we administer permit the collection of your pre-registration contact information and the comments you file to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate.  Under the Freedom of Information Act or other laws, we may be required to disclose to outside organizations the information you provide when you pre-register.  For additional information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see the Commission’s Privacy Act system for public records and comprehensive privacy policy.

This event will be open to the public and may be photographed, videotaped, webcast, or otherwise recorded.  By participating in this event, you are agreeing that your image — and anything you say or submit — may be posted indefinitely at ftc.gov or on one of the Commission's publicly available social media sites.