Longtime FTC Attorney Michael Kades to Lead Equitable Growth’s Market Competition and Antitrust Efforts

For immediate release

Washington, D.C. — As the Washington Center for Equitable Growth continues to build its staff of policy experts, the organization announced today that Michael Kades has agreed to serve as director for Markets and Competition Policy.

Kades will lead Equitable Growth’s research and policy initiatives in the areas of market competition and antitrust. His own research focuses on competition and antitrust enforcement, and their impact on consumers, wages, equality, and innovation.

“I am very pleased that Michael has agreed to join Equitable Growth to lead our efforts on market competition and antitrust issues,” said Executive Director and Chief Economist Heather Boushey. “Few people have the combination of enforcement, policy, and academic experience with these issues that Michael brings to the table. He is a real leader in the field.

“Considerable research suggests that increasing market concentration and lax antitrust enforcement have contributed to economic inequality in the United States. We are excited that Michael will expand both our research on this connection and our policy work aimed at strengthening antitrust enforcement.”

Kades comes to Equitable Growth from his previous position as antitrust counsel for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. During his tenure, Sen. Klobuchar introduced two significant bills to reform federal antitrust laws.

Kades served as an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, for 20 years, investigating and litigating some of the FTC’s most significant antitrust actions. His work on anticompetitive pharmaceutical patent settlements led to the Commission’s victory before the Supreme Court in FTC v. Actavis. During his time at the Commission, he was an attorney advisor to Chairman Jon Leibowitz.

“Equitable Growth has been a leader in examining the impact of pervasive monopoly power on opportunity and equality,” Kades said. “I look forward to helping the organization redouble its efforts to understand these important issues and develop policy solutions that enhance competition and benefit all Americans.”

Kades is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Wisconsin Law School.

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth is a nonprofit research and grantmaking organization dedicated to advancing evidence-backed ideas and policies that promote strong, stable, and broad-based economic growth.