The FTC: Technology & Reform Project’s launch conference has begun! Not here in person? Check out C-SPAN’s coverage of the event (including FTC Commissioner Wright’s keynote address and our fireside chat with former Chairmen Muris and Kovacic), join the conversation on the #FTCReform hashtag, and read the Project’s inaugural report.

A collaboration between TechFreedom, the International Center for Law & Economics, and numerous experts on the FTC, this year-long project will ultimately recommend concrete reforms to ensure the FTC’s competition and consumer protection efforts make consumers better off, especially in regulating new technologies.

Full Agenda:

Lunch and Keynote Address (12:00-1:00) FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright

(12:00-1:00) Introduction to the Project and the “Questions & Frameworks” Report (1:00-1:15) Gus Hurwitz, Geoffrey Manne and Berin Szoka

(1:00-1:15) Panel 1: Limits on FTC Discretion: Institutional Structure & Economics (1:15-2:30) Jeffrey Eisenach (AEI | Former Economist, BE) Todd Zywicki (GMU Law | Former Director, OPP) Tad Lipsky (Latham & Watkins) Geoffrey Manne (ICLE) (moderator)

(1:15-2:30) Panel 2: Section 5 and the Future of the FTC (2:45-4:00) Paul Rubin (Emory University Law and Economics | Former Director of Advertising Economics, BE) James Cooper (GMU Law | Former Acting Director, OPP) Gus Hurwitz (University of Nebraska Law) Berin Szoka (TechFreedom) (moderator)

(2:45-4:00) A Fireside Chat with Former FTC Chairmen (4:15-5:30) Tim Muris (Former FTC Chairman | George Mason University) Bill Kovacic (Former FTC Chairman | George Washington University)

(4:15-5:30) Reception (5:30-6:30)