Public Interest Comment on Laws and Regulations That Raise Barriers to Competition
Public comment in response to the DOJ Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force on laws and regulations that raise barriers to competition
Mary Sullivan
Mary Sullivan
Visiting Scholar
School: Columbian College of Arts and Sciences
Department: Regulatory Studies Center
Visiting Scholar
Prior to joining the GW Regulatory Studies Center, Mary Sullivan was an economist at the Federal Trade Commission. Previously, she was as an economist and Assistant Chief of the Competition Policy Section at the Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. In academia, she was on the faculties of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the George Washington School of Business.
Her research focuses on regulation, antitrust, and the economics of brand names and trademarks. While at the Federal Trade Commission, she wrote Economic Analysis of Hotel Resort Fees, which examines how poorly-disclosed fees affect consumers’ ability to search. In addition, she has published several articles in regulation and antitrust, including “The Effect of the Big Eight Accounting Firm Mergers on the Market for Audit Services” and “Slotting Allowances and the Market for New Products” in the Journal of Law and Economics; “The Role of Antitrust in Marketing” in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing; and “Economics at the FTC: Drug and PBM Mergers and Drip Pricing” (coauthored) in the Review of Industrial Organization. Her research on measuring brand equity and customer satisfaction are widely cited in the academic literature.
Ms. Sullivan holds a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago and an A.B. in economics from Duke University.
The FTC’s Forthcoming Junk Fee Rule Could Be a Candidate for the Congressional Review Act
To be successful, the rule should focus on harmful fees used in short-term lodging and live-event ticketing
On the FTC's Trade Regulation on Unfair or Deceptive Fees Proposed Rule
More research is needed to understand which types of "junk fees" warrant regulating
Comment on FTC-DOJ Draft Merger Guidelines
The proper goal of merger enforcement policy is to prevent only those mergers that seem likely to reduce the welfare of consumers
Regulating Junk Fees May Harm Consumers
Attempts to eliminate junk fees may harm rather than help both consumers and businesses.
Distributional Weights Should Be Dropped from the Draft Circular A-4
Weighting costs and benefits could result in large losses in efficiency
Factors Contributing to the Infant Formula Shortage
To reduce the risk of infant formula shortages in the future, the government should eliminate the barriers to entry under its control.
Factors Contributing to the Infant Formula Shortage
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has solicited public comments on the factors that may have contributed to the recent infant formula shortage.