Author Description

This insightful book offers a fresh interpretation of the modern US experience of how government agencies have enforced competition law. Kovacic is uniquely well positioned to provide an in-depth analysis on US antitrust enforcement: Since 2006 he has served on the Federal Trade Commission; including his time spent as chairman of the Commission from March 2008 until March 2009. Prior to becoming a Commissioner, Kovacic was engaged as the E.K. Gubin Professor of Government Contracts Law at George Washington University Law School. Kovacic brings this wealth of experience to bear on this book by expertly examining public enforcement since the early 1960s, and identifies substantial levels of continuity across different time periods. The author explains that this continuity is rooted in the lessons that public agencies have learnt from past cases, such as changes in widely shared views of what constitutes good norms; and the key institutional features of the US system, including private rights of action. This book distills ideas for the development of competition policy globally, and suggests criteria by which the quality of individual systems can be assessed.