Trelysa Long

The United States has faced an unprecedented slowdown in labor productivity in the last two decades. Policymakers must incentivize businesses to adopt and invest in the development of critical and emerging technologies.

Policymakers should reject neo-Brandeisian efforts to radically change U.S. antitrust laws under the false pretense that competition has declined in recent decades.

Compustat data has three major limitations, which makes citing studies that use these datasets as evidence of rising concentration (or declining competition) problematic. Policymakers should focus on studies that use the official and much more comprehensive data from the Economic Census.

A Democratic staff report from the House Small Business Committee claims that small businesses are better for the economy and large firms are harming it. But most of the report’s assertions stem from flawed research, and its policy recommendations would be detrimental.

The Competition Bureau of Canada’s 2023 report assessing the state of competition in Canada has several methodological and interpretation issues that raise doubts about the conclusion's accuracy. As such, policymakers should not use the report as the foundation of competition policymaking or to justify a more aggressive antitrust regime.

A recent working paper found that AI and robotics directly promote technological innovation while also bolstering the impact of science and technology investments on technological innovation.

A recent paper found that rising foreign competition increased concentration among U.S. firms from 1992 to 2012 but overall concentration, which includes foreign firms competing in U.S. markets, remained unchanged.

Policymakers should focus on finding the real causes of inflation rather than scapegoating large corporations and adopting the neo-Brandeisian claim that the rise in prices is due to “greedflation.”

Despite claims by anticorporate neo-Brandeisians, corporate concentration appears positively correlated with higher productivity and wages. So, the push to break up large companies is antiworker and anti-middle class.

Larger firms are generally more productive because of scale economies, but some U.S. industries still have too high a share of small firms. Policymakers should encourage, not discourage, greater consolidation in these industries.

Policymakers should ignore neo-Brandeisian calls to regulate or break up large companies. Another study has found large firms can benefit the economy and are crucial for optimal productivity.

While ITIF applauds the Commission for its efforts to evaluate the adequacy of California’s competition laws and consider possible changes, this comment highlights concerns with both the single-firm and concentration reports, and specifically regarding their respective legal and economic findings.