June 10, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In recognition of their outstanding contribution to antitrust scholarship, the authors listed below have been selected as recipients of the 18th Annual Jerry S. Cohen Memorial Fund Writing Award:
- Ailin Dong, Assistant Professor at the Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University;
- Massimo Massa, Professor at INSEAD;
- Alminas Žaldokas, Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
If circumstances allow, the Award will be presented at the 14th annual Private Antitrust Enforcement Conference of the American Antitrust Institute on November 10, 2020 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Ailin Dong, Massimo Massa, and Alminas Žaldokas will be honored for their article, “The Effects of Global Leniency Programs on Margins and Mergers,” 50 Rand J. of Econ. 883 (2019). The authors investigate how passage of national leniency programs has affected firms’ margins and merger activity. National leniency programs give amnesty to cartel conspirators that cooperate with antitrust authorities. The authors find that such programs reduce the gross margins of the affected firms, suggesting they are effective at reducing cartel activity. However, the authors also find that firms react to such programs by engaging in more mergers, and that some of those mergers may increase market power. Their empirical results imply that although leniency programs are generally effective, their benefits are offset to some extent by mergers that substitute for cartels. The authors thus advocate for stronger merger review.
The three winners will share a $10,800 prize and will each receive an inscribed original artwork created by Lori Milstein.
In addition, this year’s award selection committee has conferred six category awards, as follows:
- Best Antitrust Article of 2019 on Platforms: Herbert Hovenkamp, “Amex Platforms And The Rule Of Reason: The American Express Case,” 19 Colum. Bus. L. Rev. 35 (2019)
- Best Antitrust Article of 2019 on Intellectual Property: Erik Hovenkamp, “Antitrust Law and Patent Settlement Design,” 32 Harv. J. Law & Tech. 417 (2019)
- Best Antitrust Article of 2019 on Exclusionary Conduct: Aaron Edlin, Catherine Roux, and Armin Schmutzler, “Hunting Unicorns? Experimental Evidence on Exclusionary Pricing Policies,” 62 J. Law & Econ. 457 (2019)
- Best Antitrust Article of 2019 on Privacy: Gregory Day and Abbey Stemler “Infracompetitive Privacy,” 105 Iowa L. Rev. 61 (2019)
- Best Antitrust Article of 2019 on Remedies: Lina M. Kahn, “The Separation of Platforms and Commerce,” 119 Colum. L. Rev. 973 (2019)
- Best Antitrust Article of 2019 on Mergers: Leemore Dafny, Kate Ho, and Robin S. Lee, “The Price Effects of Cross-Market Hospital Mergers: Theory and Evidence From the Hospital Industry,” 50 Rand J. of Econ. 286 (2019)
This year’s award selection committee consisted of Zachary Caplan, Associate at Berger & Montague, P.C.; Warren Grimes, Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School; John Kirkwood, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law; Robert Lande, Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law; Christopher Leslie, Professor of Law at University of California, Irvine School of Law; Roger Noll, Professor Emeritus of Economics at Stanford University; and Daniel A. Small, Partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.
About the Award:
The Jerry S. Cohen Memorial Fund Writing Award was created through a trust established in memory of Jerry S. Cohen, an outstanding trial lawyer and antitrust scholar. The award is administered by the law firm he founded, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.
The award honors the best antitrust writing published during the prior year that is consistent with the values that animated Jerry S. Cohen’s professional life: a genuine concern for economic justice, the dispersal of economic power, effective limitations upon economic power, and the vigorous enforcement of the antitrust laws.