Congratulations to Former Chairman and current George Mason Professor Muris for taking home the Federal Trade Commission’s prestigious Miles W. Kirkpatrick Award for Lifetime FTC Achievement. As Chairman Leibowitz notes in the press release, “Tim Muris provided inspired service to the Federal Trade Commission and to the American public. He understood the value of combining economic and legal analyses with common sense, and the measures he advanced to realize this vision, such as the National Do Not Call Registry, raised the FTC’s stature among public institutions throughout the world and among our nation’s consumers.”
Muris is unique in the breadth of his knowledge across areas of competition and consumer protection, and in both areas, informed by economic analysis of the law. Indeed, I believe that Muris is the only person to have served as the head of the Bureau of Competition and Bureau of Competition (much less also later serve as Chairman). I’ve noted previously that this policy speech on the economic foundations of competition policy is a fundamental document in identifying the optimal role of economics and economists at the enforcement agencies. While we are not necessarily known on this blog for our enthusiastic and absolute support of Commission decisions, this is one that is a home run.
