Austin Drukker

economist @FTC (views my own) | PhD @UArizonaEcon | RA @BrookingsEcon | airline enthusiast

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

Appreciated the opportunity to talk with @Marketplace's @TheHenryEpp about the Essential Air Service program, the topic of my 2023 dissertation research. Listen to the full segment (5 minutes) here to hear some of what my research says about the program.
https://t.co/X1DdtmMqqM

[John A. List @Econ_4_Everyone]

The passing of the calendar has me reflecting on 2025. I want to share one experience that some might find interesting.

FTC v. Meta 2025

When I was first approached in 2020 to help with this case I was not interested. I was much too busy to bother with such exercises and when I tried this in the past I was on the other side anyway (for the BP oil spill case our work for the U.S. Department of Justice tabbed a $17.2b price tag for spill damages: https://t.co/f8Z78MOnDN).

But, after chatting with the brilliant and persuasive duo, Mark Hansen and Dan Fischel, I decided to make an offer: if we can do science and publish the work I am in. In particular, my ask was to use field experiments to address key issues. The initial response was that this had never been done in an anti-trust case and that it was too risky. Yet, to my pleasant surprise, the lead lawyers ultimately were all in.

So, with @compasslexecon and @HalSider we put together an all star team. From the beginning, this was meant to use science to discover the underlying facts, whatever they may be. We conducted a large-scale field experiment and that became the central piece of my evidence. I was proud, not only because this was a first, but that it was good science.

During the deposition phase, the field experimental evidence held up well. Then came the trial. For me, that was in May 2025, when I sat on the stand getting grilled by FTC lawyers for 8 hours (and I thought @UofC seminars were tough, at least they only last 1.5 hours!).

Throughout the process, I was quite impressed with both lead lawyer Mark Hansen and Judge Boasberg. The Judge was engaged, asked great questions, and really wanted to dig in. With that level of intellect, I felt the field experimental evidence had a chance to matter.

We then waited for a decision. In November 2025, Judge Boasberg delivered a thoughtful ruling. He dismissed the FTC's claims that Meta held a monopoly in "personal social networking," concluding that the market had evolved to include TikTok and YouTube, exactly as the field experiment found.

Importantly, he used rigorous economic reasoning, a win for economics! But there was an even bigger win for field experiments: the Judge found that evidence "compelling." My heart warmed, because field experiments had now entered a new realm, as summarized here: https://t.co/wYAcvZoFQc

Now comes the ultimate crescendo! The science has just been made public. You can find the working paper here: https://t.co/NPcSaB0PvK

I won't summarize the study here due to space constraints, but the entire brilliant team are coauthors. I find using field experiments in this arena as a 2025 highlight for our field of experimental economics.

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

@AndrewIrelandIN This is very standard practice.

[Khoa Vu @KhoaVuUmn]

The game is only called Monopoly if one player's Herfindahl-Hirschman Index exceeds 2,500. Otherwise, the game is known as "Moderately concentrated market".

[Florian Ederer @florianederer]

The brilliant Kate Ho has passed away.

She was an amazing economist and a genuinely kind human being. Her work shaped how we think about healthcare markets and her generosity touched everyone lucky enough to know her.

The profession and the world are poorer without her.

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

I’m amused by the headlines saying Larry Summers was banned from a “prestigious economist club”. A reminder that anyone can join the AEA for between $25-$150 per year, no affiliation or economist credentials required.

[Soumitra Shukla @soumitrashukla9]

An academic society will take anyone who pays the membership; getting banned from one is like getting banned from a local 7-11

[Ben Golub @ben_golub]

This NYT article on the "golden age" of air travel is an amazing example of an unthinking journalist failing to make contact with reality.

The narrative: air travel used to be much better, but less affordable.

1/

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

@ProfJAParker @BachmannRudi I’ve seen a note that if a VPN is used to disguise being based in US, there is a “!” symbol next to the location.

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

@jt_kerwin Similar story at RAND. Followed formatting guidelines to use endnotes instead of footnotes (I’d heard RAND is quite picky with formatting) and a referee said my choice to use endnotes instead of footnotes was strange (I agree).

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

@jt_kerwin Can resonate. I submitted a paper to an AEJ journal, and one referee remarked that I should include significance stars. I didn’t include the because I was following AEA guidelines. Paper would have been rejected with or without, but certainly didn’t help.

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

Let me add my praise for @ben_golub's https://t.co/YqEPqe7Sxt, a great example of the "transformative power of AI" being used for good. Is it lifechanging? No. But in my opinion its marginal value exceeds its marginal cost ($50). Just try it.

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

@jeff_gortmaker Highly recommend!

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

@mbeisen I have twice had journal referees comment that they did not like a formatting choice I made even though I was just following the journal formatting guidelines.

[Michael Gmeiner @MichaelGmeiner2]

A student said I appear "incompetent" for using Word rather than Latex.

Of course I know Latex.

If you didn't know, you can type Latex code into Word. Press Alt = to open the equation editor, then type Latex code into Word.

It is so much quicker than compiling a .tex file.

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

@captgouda24 You hate to see it!

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

@AndreasIMueller You are obviously correct.

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

@nvasilenok @jmwooldridge Make sure you’re not part of an experiment!

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

@joshgans "Thanks to ChatGPT-5 for excellent research assistance" 😂

[Austin Drukker @DrukkerAustin]

@ArthurDelaneyHP Fun fact: I once saw future Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy at that same Shake Shack. He kept a low profile.