Seminar: Competition or Collaboration for a Sustainable Economy? with Denise Hearn

Abstract: ‍

Competition policy is central component of a regulatory framework that supports national and global sustainability goals. It answers questions of whether and how economic actors can or should collaborate, and toward what end. Answers to those questions are rigorously contested and not well understood. On one hand, for instance, increased market concentration and power can stifle innovation and undermine democratic governance. On the other hand, industry collaboration can accelerate technical and financial efforts to address sustainability challenges.
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While there are real and challenging questions related to how competition policy should support sustainability goals, competition law and policy is also being used manipulatively by political operatives to challenge climate alliances in a transparent effort to chill climate action.

This seminar will cover the new report: Antitrust and Sustainability: A Landscape Analysis by the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.

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About the Speaker:

Denise Hearn is a writer and applied researcher who advises governments, financial institutions, companies, and nonprofits on antitrust, economic policy, and new economic thinking. She is currently a Resident Senior Fellow at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, a joint center of Columbia University Law School and Columbia Climate School.

Denise co-authored The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition – named one of the Financial Times’ Best Books of 2018. Her writing has been translated into 9 languages and featured in major publications globally. She currently authors the Embodied Economics newsletter.

Denise has an MBA from the Oxford Saïd Business School and a BA in International Studies from Baylor University.  

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