The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental economic organization with 37 member countries based in Paris, has selected research by Professor William E. Kovacic as one of seven projects on gender and competition policy that OECD believes “will generate new evidence to inform the debate and help us to develop guidance on how to develop a more gender inclusive competition policy.” The projects will be presented at a workshop on February 25, 2021.
Professor Kovacic’s project will examine the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) decision-making priorities since the late 1960s in the areas of budgeting, resource allocation, and project selection. He will explore how the prioritization goals intersect and offer approaches for taking gender considerations into account as the FTC responds to modern concerns about income equality, racial discrimination, poverty reduction, small business development, innovation, and environmental sustainability.
“It is a great honor for GW to contribute to this important OECD initiative to develop more gender inclusive competition policies that improve the well-being of all individuals,” said Professor Kovacic.
Professor Kovacic is the Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy, Professor of Law, and Director of the Competition Law Center at GW Law, where he teaches antitrust, contracts, and government contracts. Before coming to the law school in 1999, he was the George Mason University Foundation Professor at George Mason University School of Law.
He chaired the FTC from 2008 to 2009. A member of the agency from 2006 to 2011, he was the FTC’s General Counsel from 2001 to 2004. In 2011, he received the agency’s Miles W. Kirkpatrick Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Since 2013, Professor Kovacic has served as Non-Executive Director with the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority. From 2009 to 2011, he was Vice-Chair for Outreach for the International Competition Network. He has advised many countries and international organizations on antitrust, consumer protection, government contracts, and the design of regulatory institutions.
A highly sought-after legal expert and commentator on antitrust issues, he is the co-editor of the Journal of Antitrust Enforcement. He is also the author or co-author of numerous law review articles and casebooks on antitrust, regulation, and competition policy.