Federal Trade Commission Launches Web Site Focusing on Recent Economics Directors' Roundtable

The Federal Trade Commission today launched a new Internet Web site that is dedicated to last year's 100th Anniversary Bureau of Economics (BE) Roundtable. Thirteen former BE directors, covering the past 50 years, attended the Roundtable, which was held on September 4, 2003, in Washington, DC, and examined the Bureau's impact on competition and consumer protection matters, as well as its contribution to research and economic knowledge and policy.

The site, which can be found at: www.ftc.gov/be/workshops/directorsconference/index.htm, contains a wealth of information on all aspects of the Roundtable, including a complete transcript covering each of the three main participant panels. While the FTC is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, BE's history reaches back to the FTC's predecessor agency, the Bureau of Corporations, which was formed in 1903.

Luke Froeb, the current Director of the Bureau of Economics, said, "I want to thank Chairman Timothy Muris for supporting this effort to gather the collective wisdom of the previous Bureau Directors. Understanding the successes and failures of the past is an invaluable tool in shaping a brighter future. I learned a great deal from the insights of my predecessors, and we hope to continue to build on their achievements."

The Roundtable Transcript

The 231-page Roundtable transcript includes recollections from BE directors from 1953 to today. The transcript provides an in-depth oral history of important aspects of economics at the Commission since the end of World War II. Since most of the development of modern industrial organization theory started during the 1950s, the conference proceedings cover the transformation of the Bureau of Economics from largely a group of accountants and statisticians who collected, summarized, and reported data into a highly regarded, sophisticated microeconomics shop able to support the complex antitrust litigation of recent years.

The proceedings also explain BE's role in helping to develop the economic analysis and techniques to evaluate consumer protection issues - techniques that the economics literature essentially did not have 20 to 30 years ago. The former directors describe ebbs and flows in political and resource support for economics in the FTC as well as the impacts of varying political influences over the years.

The BE Directors' Roundtable Site

In addition to containing the transcript of the 100th Anniversary Roundtable, the new Bureau Directors' Roundtable Web site provides links to other relevant information and photos from the event. This information includes a Roundtable agenda and group photo of the 13 former BE directors, biographies of the invited participants, a subject index to the Roundtable transcript, and slides that accompany the complete text of the transcript itself. The site also has links to the welcome and introductory remarks by current BE Director Luke Froeb, as well as opening remarks presented by FTC Chairman Timothy Muris. Finally, the site contains the text from each of the Roundtable's three panels on: 1) BE Contributions to Antitrust Enforcement; 2) BE Contributions to Consumer Protection Enforcement; and 3) BE Contributions to Research and Economic Knowledge and Policy; as well as the luncheon and keynote address presented by former FTC Chairman James C. Miller III.

The FTC's 90th Anniversary Symposium

The posting of the new BE Directors' Roundtable Web site coincides with the FTC's recent announcement of a symposium to be held on September 22-23, 2004, in Washington, DC, to commemorate the Commission's 90th anniversary. The symposium will be held in the FTC's Conference Center, 601 New Jersey Ave., NW, and will feature panel discussions covering a broad range of topics relevant to the Commission's history and the implications for the future. More information about the symposium, including a detailed agenda and registration information, can be found at: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/history/90thagenda.htm.

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