Posts tagged antitrust law
UPS Is the Symptom, Not the Disease: How Labor Policy Shapes Long-Run Worker Outcomes
February 18, 2026 // The question, then, is not whether the gains are real, but how the trade-offs unfold. Why do headline-grabbing contracts so often coincide with downsizing, automation, and job losses in sectors governed by exclusive, monopoly bargaining arrangements? When short-run wage gains are secured through monopoly bargaining power, where do the adjustments occur—and who ultimately bears the costs?
Antitrust and Modern U.S. Labor Markets: An Economics Perspective
August 3, 2022 // Among the most high-profile initiatives of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) during the Biden Administration has been a focus on using antitrust law to address issues relating to economic inequality, specifically the role that corporate mergers purport to play in undermining labor market competition, and in turn harming workers.[2] Proponents of the FTC’s current approach appeal to academic analysis in support of their argument.[3] We submit that this focus is misguided, and based on flawed assumptions with respect to both the state of the labor market and the purported growth in economic inequality. Rather, we argue, when analyzed correctly, the data regarding workplace flexibility, labor market concentration, and so-called “income inequality” show that, if the FTC continues down this regulatory path, the workers the agency claims to protect will suffer the greatest harm. The application of antitrust law to the labor market is unprecedented and, perhaps more importantly, antithetical to the well-being of workers. For the reasons we explain below, it should be rejected. National Longitudinal Survey, House of Representatives Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth, Executive Branch,