Dynamic Antitrust Discussion Series: “Innovation Matters”

Competition policy and antitrust enforcement have traditionally focused on prices rather than innovation. That is because economic theory shows the ways that price competition benefits consumers, and courts, antitrust agencies—and economists have developed quantitative tools for evaluating price impacts. But in his recent book Innovation Matters: Competition Policy for the High-Technology Economy, economist Richard J. Gilbert argues antitrust enforcement should shift from a price-centric competition policy to an innovation-centric one in order to protect incentives for innovation rather than static competition. In a high-technology economy, Gilbert argues, innovation matters.

ITIF and Competition Policy International hosted the second in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which Aurelien Portuese, ITIF’s director of antitrust and innovation policy, sits down with leading scholars and antitrust enforcers in Washington, Brussels, and elsewhere to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation.