John Kwoka

Neal F. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of Economics

John Kwoka teaches and conducts research in the areas of industrial organization, antitrust, and regulatory economics. His emphasis is on the application of economics to current policy issues in various industries. His other teaching interests include courses on the microeconomics of the financial crisis and on sports economics.

He recently served as Chief Economic Advisor to Chair Lina Khan of the Federal Trade Commission. Kwoka’s recent research has focused on merger and remedies policy and has been widely cited in the popular press as well as in academic journals. Kwoka’s most recent book on this subject CONTROLLING MERGERS AND MARKET POWER: A Program for Reviving Antitrust in America was just released by CPI Publishing. His earlier book, Mergers, Merger Control, and Remedies in the United States: A Retrospective Analysis was published in 2015 by MIT Press and won the Cohen Award for the Best Antitrust Book. He also co-edits The Antitrust Revolution (now in it’s seventh edition), the leading casebook on recent antitrust cases. Kwoka has worked at the U.S. antitrust and regulatory agencies and serves as adviser or consultant to them and to those of other countries and international agencies. He is also co-editor of the new Antitrust Economics in a Time of Upheaval.

View CV

Awards & Honors

Jerry S. Cohen Award for Antitrust Scholarship, presented by the American Antitrust Institute (2014)
Distinguished Service Award, presented by the Industrial Organization Society (2012)

Selected Publications

Books

Antitrust Economics in a Time of Upheaval, co-edited with T. Valletti and L. White, CPI Press, 2023
Controlling Mergers and Market Power: A Program for Reviving Antitrust in America, CPI Publishing, 2020
Mergers, Merger Control, and Remedies: A Retrospective Analysis of U.S. Policy, MIT Press, 2015, second printing 2018
The Antitrust Revolution, co-edited with Lawrence J. White:
- 7th ed., Oxford University Press, 2019
- 6th ed., Oxford University Press, 2014
- 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 2009
  - Translated into Chinese by Ping Lin and X. H. Zang, Economic Science Press of China, Beijing (2008)
- 4th ed., Oxford University Press, 2004
  - Translated into Chinese by Ping Lin and X. H. Zang, Economic Science Press of China, Beijing (2008)
- 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, 1999
- 2nd ed., HarperCollins, 1994
- 1st ed., Scott, Foresman, 1989
Power Structure: Ownership, Integration, and Competition in the U.S. Electricity Industry, Kluwer, 1996

Articles

“Inherently Stable Cartels: Economics and Policy,” Robert H. Lande Festschrift, University of Baltimore Law Review, 2024
“Revisiting Structural Remedies,” Antitrust, Fall 2024
“Methodology Matters: The 2017 FTC Remedies Study,” CPI Chronicle, October 2024
“The Next Administration Must Finish the Merger Guidelines Revision,” ProMarket June 2024
“Unscrambling the Eggs: Breaking Up Consummated Mergers and Dominant Firms,” with T. Valletti, Industrial and Corporate Change, August 2021
“The Promise and Perils of Conduct Remedies in Merger Review,” in Albert A. Foer Liber Amicorum, Nicholas Charbit, ed., Concurrences, New York, 2020
“Raising Rivals’ Costs by Customer Diversion: The Case of Airline Baggage Fees,” with P. Wang, Journal of International Economics and Business, v. 17, Issue 3, 2020
Fix It or Forget It (August 31, 2021). Competition Policy” by John Kwoka and Spencer Weber Waller, International, Antitrust Chronicle, Summer 2021 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3915083
“You Say You Want an Antitrust Revolution: The Paradox of Modern Merger Control” by John Kwoka, The Antitrust Bulletin, August 2020
“Conduct Remedies, With 2020 Hindsight: Have We Learned Anything in the Last Decade?”” by John Kwoka, CPI, April 20, 2020
“Second Thoughts on Double Marginalization‘” by John Kwoka and Margaret Slade, Antitrust, Spring 2020.

“Strategic Responses to Competitive Threats: Airlines in Action,” with Birzhan Batkeyev, Review of Industrial Organization, February 2019.
“Non-Price Effects of Mergers: Issues and Evidence,” with Shawn Kilpatrick, Antitrust Bulletin, April 2018
“The Effects of Mergers on Innovation: Economic Framework and Empirical Evidence,” in The Roles of Innovation in Competition Law Analysis, Paul Nihoul and Pieter Va Cleynenbreuge, eds., Edward Elgar, 2018.
The Structural Presumption and the Safe Harbor in Merger Review: False Positives or Unwarranted Concerns? Antitrust Law Journal, Volume 81 Issue 3 (2017)
From the Fringe to the Forefront: Low-Cost Carriers and Airline Price Determination with K. Hearle and P. Alepin Review of Industrial Organization, 2016.
The Changing Nature of Efficiencies in Mergers and in Merger Analysis Antitrust Bulletin, September 2015.
Predicting Merger Outcomes: The Accuracy of Stock Market Event Studies, Market Structure Characteristics, and Agency Decisions with C. Gu Journal of Law & Economics, August 2015.
Structure, Conduct, Policy, and Performance: The Simple Model of F. M. Scherer Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, March 2014.
Rockonomics: The Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger and the Rock Concert Business,
The Antitrust Revolution, J. Kwoka and L. White, eds, 2014.
Does Merger Control Work? A Retrospective on U.S. Enforcement Actions and Merger Outcomes,
Antitrust Law Journal, 2013.
Behavioral Merger Remedies: Evaluation and Implications for Antitrust Enforcement,with Diana Moss,
Antitrust Bulletin, 2012.
Mergers That Eliminate Potential Competition, Research Handbook on the Economics of Antitrust Laws,
Einer Elhauge, ed., Edward Elgar, 2012.
Reflections on the Tenth Anniversary of the Antitrust and Regulatory Update,
Review of Industrial Organization, December 2011.
The Cost Structure of Regional Transmission Organizations,with Daniel Greenfield,
Energy Journal, v. 32, n., 2011.
Price Spikes in Energy Markets: Business by Usual Methods or Strategic Withholding? with Vladlena Sabodash,
Review of Industrial Organization, May 2011.
The Price Effect of Eliminating Potential Competition: Evidence from an Airline Merger,with Evgenia Shumilkina,
Journal of Industrial Economics, December 2010.
Incentive Regulation, Service Quality and Standards in U.S. Electricity Distribution, with Anna Ter-Martiroysan,
Journal of Regulatory Economics, December 2010.
Do Mergers Improve Efficiency? Evidence from Restructuring the U,S. Electric Power Sector, with Michael Pollitt,
International Journal of Industrial Organization, November 2010.
Divestiture Policy and Operating Efficiency in U.S. Electric Power Distribution, with Michael Pollitt and Sanem Sergici, Journal of Regulatory Economics, June 2010.