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FEATURED: Airline Regulation Agenda Takes Off
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Ever since we called the broken airline industry “the prototypical story of deregulation” in our 2021 report The Courage To Learn [[link removed]] , we’ve had our sights set on comprehensively reforming air travel in the US. We brought on Bill McGee, a longtime airline industry employee turned consumer advocate, to make the public case that frustrations with “too big to care“ airlines are downstream of structural issues with the airline market. We also targeted policymakers, including Department of Transportation Secretary Buttigieg, making the case that the Biden administration could address consumer harms if key agencies exercised under-utilized authorities.
We’ve seen incredible progress in the past year alone, with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division successfully blocking the JetBlue-Spirit merger [[link removed]] (more on that later) and Secretary Buttigieg’s DOT stepping up to hold airlines accountable—including delivering an unprecedented enforcement action [[link removed]] against Southwest airlines late last year.
In January, Economic Liberties released "How [[link removed]] to Fix Flying: a New Approach to Regulating the Airline Industry [[link removed]] ,” [[link removed]] a comprehensive roadmap to structure and regulate the airline industry in the public interest, in collaboration with the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator. Launched with exclusive coverage in the New York Times [[link removed]] , follow-up coverage in the Washington Post [[link removed]] , and an event [[link removed]] at the National Press Club, the paper describes how to govern an industry that has failed consumers, workers, and entire geographic regions of the US. We’ve received great feedback from policymakers, experts, and advocates, with one headline referring to the paper as “ The [[link removed]] Proposals Shaping the [[link removed]] Future of U.S. Air Travel [[link removed]] .” We certainly hope so.
THE LATEST
Ensuring the CHIPS Act’s Succe ss by Integrating Competition into Industrial Policy : With the rollout of $53 billion in CHIPS and Science Act subsidies underway, and seemingly endless debate in the business press on its efficacy and implementation, Economic Liberties teamed up with subject matter expert and longtime tech executive Todd Achilles for a new white paper [[link removed]] on how to truly foster domestic, resilient semiconductor manufacturing. While commending Congress’ commitment to rebuild America’s semiconductor capabilities, the paper breaks down market structure issues that could undermine the CHIPS Act’s implementation, and proposes complementary anti-monopoly and trade policies to overcome them. The second installment in our Industrial Policy and Competition Series [[link removed]] , the paper was featured as an exclusive in The American Prospect [[link removed]] , while our accompanying letter to the Biden Administration was covered in POLITICO Morning Tech [[link removed]] .
Helping State Lawmakers Throw Junk Fees in the Trash: Economic Liberties’ new End Junk Fees [[link removed]] campaign is off to a great start, catalyzing state-level junk fee legislation across the country to protect consumers and honest businesses. Launched at an event [[link removed]] featuring AZ State Rep. Analise Ortiz, PA State Rep. and Nick Pisciottano, and National Economic Council Deputy Director Jon Donenberg, the campaign provides resources and advocacy support to help state-level officials and advocates join what is fast becoming a nationwide movement. As of this writing, eleven states —from Hawaii to Connecticut—have introduced bills to crack down on junk fees in the current legislative session, some based off Economic Liberties’ model legislation [[link removed]] . We’re already seeing huge victories, as just this week junk fee bills advanced out of the New York State Senate and Virginia State Senate with broad bipartisan support.
Price Fixing by Algorithm is Still Price Fixing : With rising prices top-of-mind for consumers, two Economic Liberties-supported bills were introduced in the Senate to make it easier for enforcers to crack down on algorithmic price fixing. Senator Ron Wyden’s Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act [[link removed]] aims to make it unlawful for property owners to contract with firms that manage and sync rent prices with housing supply data, and broadly prohibits collaboration between landlords on rent prices, occupancy levels, and more. The bill also answers calls from enforcers and state officials to close a loophole in federal antitrust law that allows corporate landlords to inflate rents amid a widespread housing affordability crisis. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s Preventing Algorithmic Collusion Act [[link removed]] is aimed at cracking down on algorithmic price setting across the economy more broadly. These federal bills follow high-profile law enforcement action [[link removed]] from the Department of Justice and state attorneys general to address anti-competitive data sharing practices.
We’ve G ot the F ix for Ticketmaster and Boeing : A year after launching the #BreakUpTicketmaster [[link removed]] Coalition [[link removed]] and channeling mounting frustration with Live Nation-Ticketmaster into a campaign that led to a DOJ investigation, Economic Liberties is moving to the next phase with proposed solutions. In January we released a white paper, “The [[link removed]] Case Against Live Nation-Ticketmaster,” [[link removed]] laying out a legal roadmap antitrust enforcers can follow to finally rein in this monopoly amid renewed scrutiny. We followed the paper launch with a virtual event [[link removed]] featuring Senator Amy Klobuchar, music industry insiders, legal experts, who were unanimous in calling for structural remedies. We know our campaign is working as The Hill [[link removed]] [[link removed]] reports that the company doubled its lobbying spend in 2023 and the DOJ’s probe is heating up [[link removed]] with new document requests. Around the same time, Economic Liberties’ Director of Research Matt Stoller made a splash with another bold proposal to fix a different consolidated headache: Boeing. Stoller argued the corporation should be nationalized and then broken up in his newsletter [[link removed]] , which was also covered in New York Times [[link removed]] DealBook [[link removed]] .
Enforcers Continue Winning Streak in 2024: In an enormous victory for travelers, airline workers, and communities that would have suffered from weakened competition on key routes, a federal judge in Boston sided with the DOJ Antitrust Division in blocking the merger of JetBlue and Spirit airlines. The decision—the first time a judge has flat-out blocked an airline merger in over 40 years—came after months of outside advocacy from Economic Liberties and allies in the anti-monopoly movement, who successfully pushed back against the airlines’ PR efforts in the Associated Press [[link removed]] , BBC [[link removed]] , Boston Globe [[link removed]] , Washington Post [[link removed]] , and beyond. Meanwhile, the FTC—hot off its victory against Illumina-GRAIL in Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals—won yet another merger challenge last month, as IQVIA, the world’s largest healthcare data provider, abandoned its acquisition of Propel Media days after a judge ruled in favor of the Commission.
Economic Liberties ’ Board Names Nidhi Hegde Interim Executive Director : With comprehensive experience driving the organization’s strategy and managing its day-to-day operations, we’re thrilled to announce that Nidhi Hegde will take over as Interim Executive Director of Economic Liberties! Hegde has served as Managing Director, and previously as Director of Strategy & Programs, since helping to develop and launch Economic Liberties as an independent organization in 2020. We are grateful for Faiz Shakir’s leadership and look forward to working with him as a senior advisor.

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