Presented by the USC Marshall Initiative on Digital Competition, each month industry experts and academic leaders come together to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of digital platforms.

Each episode will dive into key topics such as innovation, disruption, competition within online platforms and more. 

This month's webinar will focus on the forthcoming paper "Trends in Competition in the United States: What Does the Evidence Show" by Professors Shapiro (Berkeley) and Yurukoglu (Stanford) with lively commentary and discussion by Leslie Marx (Duke) and Diana Moss (PPI) on Tuesday, September 24 at 9am Pacific/ 12pm Eastern.

Speakers:

• Carl Shapiro, Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School, University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business

• Ali Yurukoglu, The Jonathan B. Lovelace Professor of Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business
• Leslie Marx, Robert A. Bandeen Professor of Economics, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business
• Diana Moss, Vice President and Director of Competition Policy, Progressive Policy Institute

Paper Abstract 
Has the United States economy become less competitive in recent decades? One might think so based on a body of research that has rapidly become influential for antitrust policy.

We explain that the empirical evidence relating to concentration trends, markup trends, and the effects of mergers does not actually show a widespread decline in competition. Nor does it provide a basis for dramatic changes in antitrust policy. 

To the contrary, in many respects the evidence indicates that the observed changes in many industries are likely to reflect competition in action. 

We highlight research that points to targeted interventions that can enable antitrust enforcement policy to better promote and protect competition. 

Throughout the paper, we identify open questions and opportunities for future research in the cross-industry evidence-at-scale paradigm, the industry-specific study paradigm, and their intersection.