Jack Nicastro
Jack Nicastro is an antitrust policy analyst for the Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy at ITIF. Before joining ITIF, Jack covered antitrust, AI, and economics as an assistant editor of Reason. Jack holds a B.A. in economics and philosophy from Dartmouth College.
Research Areas
Recent Publications
Developing Safety Standards Is Not Inherently Anticompetitive
Developing common AI safety standards does not, by itself, undermine competition. Policymakers should not force companies to choose between competing vigorously and working together to prevent serious safety risks. Antitrust law should allow both.
Comments to Korea Fair Trade Commission Regarding Merger Notification Guidelines
The Proposed Amendment would have the effect of “protecting” startups by frustrating larger firms from acquiring their founders and employees. Adopting such a policy would predictably chill incentives to innovate.
Comments to National Assembly of Vietnam Regarding the Draft Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Articles
ITIF applauds the Ministry for removing much of the digital-platform specific language from the earlier version of the Draft Law, but remains concerned that what remains in the proposed amendments, especially to Articles 26 and 27, may result in de facto discrimination against digital platforms.
Antitrust Overreach Comes for Zillow
Antitrust battles over digital markets have spread well beyond Big Tech to other leading online firms, threatening productivity and dynamism across the digital economy.
Google’s Spam Policy Change Shows the Costs of DMA Compliance
To avoid a potentially exorbitant Digital Markets Act fine, Google is changing its spam policy in a way that may degrade Search, providing yet another example of the European Commission compelling American firms to weaken their services.
AI Companies Are Destroying Books. That's Not Nearly as Scary as It Sounds.
AI companies’ destructive book scanning neither forecloses competition nor threatens humanity’s cultural inheritance. The FTC should not waste resources investigating it.
Comments to UK’s Competition and Markets Authority Regarding Steering Conduct Requirements for Apple and Google
Rather than resort to heavy-handed content and price regulation to address nonexistent market failures, the CMA should follow the lead of the United States and rely on a tried-and-true, ex post law enforcement framework to address concerns about anticompetitive behavior associated with anti-steering practices by Apple and Google.
The 'App Store Freedom Act' Would be Bad for Freedom
The App Store Freedom Act would impede innovation, weaken U.S. technological leadership, and import a hostile antitrust framework used abroad to discriminate against American technology companies.
How Schumpeterian Profits Create a Virtuous Cycle of Innovation
Innovation not only gives rise to market power, but market power fosters innovation by enabling and incentivizing the firms that possess it to make the investments innovation requires.
Comments to Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade Regarding the Draft Law Amending and Supplementing Competition Law
The Draft Law is contrary to Vietnam’s goals of both fostering homegrown innovation and deepening its techno-economic partnership with the United States.
A New Bipartisan Bill Promises Innovation and Choice. It Will Deliver Neither.
The recently reintroduced American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) is a departure from America’s current antitrust regime, not an improvement. Although it promises to deliver innovation and choice in the technology sector, AICOA would undermine both.
The FTC’s Weak Case Against Uber One Could Cost Consumers
The survival of the Federal Trade Commission’s specious consumer protection claims against Uber over the rideshare company’s popular subscription service perpetuates yet another flawed lawsuit against Big Tech.
Recent Events and Presentations
Korean Competition Policy and the Stakes for the US-Korea Relationship
Join ITIF for a panel discussion with international experts on a forthcoming report analyzing a decade of previously uncompiled KFTC enforcement data, what its findings mean for U.S.–Korea economic relations, and how policymakers in both countries should respond.
AICOA and the Risks to American Innovation
Watch now for a webinar featuring leading experts who examined the legislation, discussed its likely consequences, and explained why AICOA could undermine American technology leadership without delivering meaningful benefits for competition.
Beyond BASED? The Digital Markets Act's Influence on US Antitrust Legislation
Watch now for a panel discussion with top experts as they discuss tech-specific antitrust bills mirroring the EU’s Digital Markets Act, the implications of those bills for competition in the United States, and their potential effects on America’s leading tech firms, innovation, and consumers.

