New Spring seminar course to examine the ethics of antitrust policies

This spring, advanced undergraduates and graduate students will participate in a research seminar comparing antitrust policy and enforcement through time as well as across the globe.

The course is being co-taught by Tim Büthe and Umut Aydin. Büthe is a Senior Fellow with the Kenan Institute for Ethics and member of KIE’s Rethinking Regulation Faculty Advisory Group. He specializes in the evolution and persistence of institutions such as regulatory bodies and the ways in which institutions enable and constrain actors. Aydin has just joined the Institute for a semester residency as a George C. Lamb, Jr. Regulatory Fellow. She is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, where she specializes in competition policy.

The enforcement of antitrust law, known as competition policy in the rest of the world, is supposed to safeguard market competition.  It is one of the most powerful tools governments have at their disposal to ensure that the benefits of a market economy are widely shared, maintain incentives to lower prices, seek greater efficiency, and innovate. The course is designed as a research-oriented upper-level undergraduate seminar (for juniors and seniors), open to graduate students in political science, public policy, law, or business. Registration requires instructors’ permission.  Students interested in taking the course should email Prof. Buthe with a few sentences on their academic backgrounds and interests.

Course information: The Politics of Market Competition in a Global Economy [Political Science 555 / Ethics 555]