Policymakers at all levels across the globe are focused on how competition policy interacts with—or should interact with—modern digital markets, characterized by the entry of large platform marketplaces of digital goods and services. As legislators and enforcement agency officials debate the applicability of antitrust (or competition) law to digital platforms, they are grappling with a wide range of sometimes conflicting policy objectives and concerns. While some competitors complain about unfair treatment on social media, software, search, or retail platforms, the consequences—including the costs—of governmental intervention to satisfy those complaints are often poorly understood.
That’s why ACT | The App Association is taking this opportunity to announce the first cycle of our fellowship focused on antitrust and competition law and policy. Hosted by our foundation arm, the Innovators Network Foundation (INF), the antitrust and competition fellows engage in thought leadership and research across these issues and more.
INF aims to inform and enrich the debate around these critical issues by supporting the views and thought leadership of academics and experts in antitrust and adjacent policy fields
The Inaugural Antitrust and Competition Law Fellows are:
Jane Bambauer- Law Professor at the University of Arizona
Professor Bambauer is a professor of law at the University of Arizona. She teaches and studies the fundamental problems of well-intended technology policies. Her research assesses the social costs and benefits of Big Data and how new information technologies affect free speech, privacy, and competitive markets. She also serves as the co-deputy director of the Center for Quantum Networks, a multi-institutional engineering research center funded by the National Science Foundation, where she facilitates research on economic and regulatory policy for emerging markets in quantum technologies. Her work has been featured in more than 20 scholarly publications including the Stanford Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, the California Law Review, and the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. Her work has also been featured in media outlets including the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fox News, and Lawfare. She holds a BS in Mathematics from Yale College and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
Jess Melugin- Director of the Center of Technology & Innovation at the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Ms. Melugin is a champion in the field of free-market technology policy. Her voice and research focus on the contemporary technology issues arising through antitrust litigations, privacy, free speech, and social media content regulation. Her writings and engagements have spoken volumes about congressional legislation like Section 230’s impacts to consumer welfare as well as First Amendment free speech rights. Her publications have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Fox News, USA Today, Bloomberg Law, National Review, Forbes, and others. She has been cited in the Washington Post, Politico, and Variety, among other publications. Ms. Melugin graduated magna cum laude from Claremont McKenna College with a degree in government and art history. Her honors thesis explored the development of American antitrust law as it pertains to the Microsoft trial. Prior to CEI, Ms. Melugin worked at the Manhattan Institute and the American Enterprise Institute.
Elyse Dorsey- Visiting Scholar at the University of Virginia
Ms. Dorsey is well familiar with the antitrust landscape. She has held many positions within government agencies such as serving as counsel to the Assistant General in charge of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Her work at the Antitrust Division encompassed a wide array of legal and policy matters, primarily relating to intellectual property (IP) and technology issues, the Division’s appellate and amicus brief programs, and its international and competition policy efforts. Ms. Dorsey joined the Division from where she worked as Attorney Advisor to Commissioner Noah Phillips of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and completed a detail to the Office of Policy Planning. While at the FTC, she advised on key cases, matters, and policies that affected industries across the economy—from digital and tech to pharmaceuticals and hospitals and more—and on issues related to the FTC’s hearings on competition and consumer protection in the 21st century. Prior, Ms. Dorsey practiced at an international law firm where her work focused on cutting-edge competition, privacy, and consumer protection issues in courts and jurisdictions across the globe, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Dorsey earned her law degree summa cum laude from Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and her undergraduate summa cum laude from Clemson University. After graduating from law school, Dorsey served as a law clerk to the Honorable E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Erik Hovenkamp- Law Professor at the University of Southern California
Professor Hovenkamp is a legal scholar and economist. He is currently an associate professor at the USC Gould School of Law. His research focuses on antitrust; IP and innovation policy; and industrial organization. His work has been published in a wide range of leading academic journals in law and economics, including the Yale Law Journal, the Journal of Industrial Economics, and the University of Chicago Law Review, among many others. He holds a Ph.D. in economics and a J.D., both from Northwestern University. Prior to joining the USC faculty in 2019, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Law School and a visiting fellow at Yale Law School. In 2018, he was a visiting lecturer at Boston University School of Law.
Eric Peterson- Policy Director at the Pelican Institute
Mr. Peterson is the director of the Pelican Center for Technology and Innovation at the Pelican Institute, a Louisiana-based think tank that researches and proposes policy solutions to address the most significant barriers for Louisiana residents. The Center for Technology and Innovation has a mission of making Louisiana the most technology-friendly state in the nation and has published papers on broadband access, telehealth, and antitrust. He is a champion state voice for innovative policies surrounding market competition. His commentary on federal regulatory impacts on state local businesses and developers has been showcased in national outlets including, the Washington Post, National Review, and Forbes. Prior to Pelican, Eric worked on state policy for a variety of organizations including Americans for Prosperity and the Institute for Free Speech. At these organizations, Eric cultivated a passion for tax policy, occupational licensing reform, and online speech. Eric is a Tulane University grad where he majored in political economy.
Theodore Bolema- Executive Director at the Institute for the Study of Economic Growth and Associate Professor of Economics at Wichita State University
Dr. Bolema is the founding executive director of the Institute for the Study of Economic Growth at Wichita State University and a member of the Department of Economics at the Barton School of Business. Previously, he was a senior fellow with the Free State Foundation, director of policy research editing at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, principal with the economics consulting firm Anderson Economic Group, and a professor of finance and business law at Central Michigan University. Dr. Bolema worked as an attorney with Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP in New York and with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He has also taught at the Scalia School of Law at George Mason University, Wayne State University, and Michigan State University. Dr. Bolema’s research on technology policy has been cited favorably at least ten times in Federal Communications Commission orders, including the Restoring Internet Freedom order in 2017. He has also been cited on regulatory law and economics topics in numerous publications including the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, the Detroit News, Politico, and the Los Angeles Business Journal. His recent research has been on the proper role of state attorneys general in antitrust policy as it relates to technology companies, the shortcomings of municipal broadband and better alternatives for local governments seeking to improve internet access, and how government agencies, particularly the FCC, can better use economic analysis to inform their decision. Dr. Bolema received his Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.