david scheffman march 2003 1 hot topics in economics using new economic arguments and evidence antitrust investigations litigation general comments with branded products mergers as an example t director bureau of federal trade commission opinions are those the author not necessarily or individual commissioners conference board 2 cutting edge analyses is quantitative qualitative based sound recognition data limitations all relevant information that stand up to plausible testing assumptions robustness we have made a lot progress at ftc developing useful our lawyers decision makers unfortunately less outside response 3 issues web site materials http www gov htm best practices for financial be ftcbebp pdf perspectives on use econometric cases ftcperspectivesoneconometrics demand system estimation its application horizontal merger analysis
