The Economic Analysis Group (EAG) of the Antitrust Division is one of the world’s leading venues for developing and applying economics to real world questions of competition. Economists here routinely incorporate internal corporate data, business documents, and information from interviews of executives to understand and model competition from a perspective that is unavailable in typical academic settings. As a result, EAG economists can develop a uniquely relevant understanding of firm conduct in a wide variety of industries—from traditional manufacturing to high tech. Our analysis plays a central role in enforcement efforts to protect competition and benefit consumers through low prices, high quality, and innovation.
Featured
Economic Research
EAG has a seminar series that features the latest work of academics and other researchers, a release time program to grant formal time away from casework to pursue research, and an active discussion paper series.
More on economic research at EAG.
Recent Discussion Papers
Pricing of Complements in the U.S. Freight Railroads: Cournot Versus Coase April 2018
Simulating Mergers in a Vertical Supply Chain with Bargaining October 2017
Forward Contracts, Market Structure, and the Welfare Effects of Mergers October 2017
In the News
As part of the Antitrust Division’s Jackson-Nash Address Series, Nobel Laureate George Akerlof of Georgetown University spoke on the role of manipulation and deception in economic markets.
EAG Year in Review
Economics at the Antitrust Division 2016–2017: Healthcare, Nuclear Waste, and Agriculture
Additional Information
About EAG
We are a group of approximately 50 Ph.D. economists, complemented by research and financial analysts. We analyze the competitive effects of horizontal and vertical mergers and of potentially anticompetitive business practices.
Cases
Using economic theory and the evolving empirical tools of our trade, EAG studies the strategies of firms and the dynamics of industries.
Leadership
EAG is led by career managers and the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics. The Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics is a prominent industrial organization economist, typically on leave from an academic post.