51��ɫ

The roundtable commemorates the 100th anniversary of the FTC's predecessor agency, the Bureau of Corporations. It was sponsored by the FTC's Bureau of Economics (BE) and focused on BE history and contributions of BE and economic analysis to antitrust and consumer protection enforcement, and to research and economic knowledge and policy. BE was featured because the original functions of the Bureau of Corporations were to collect information, to conduct industry and policy research, to prepare reports at the request of the Congress and the President. The panelists for the roundtable consisted of former BE Directors and Acting Directors from the past 50 years. In an effort to capture the history of BE, they were asked to review their experiences and to identify significant BE contributions to research and economic knowledge and policy, the nature and impact of each contribution, and the recognition (and/or criticism) received. They were also asked to review the less visible role played by BE in addressing the economic issues that arose over time in cases, trade rules, and litigation, and what the economists contributed in terms of economic analysis. The former Directors also put these experiences in the context of external and internal influences on the Bureau and its work.