Carl Shapiro
Professor of the Graduate School | Transamerica Chair in Business Strategy Emeritus | University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA, UNITED STATES
Areas of Expertise (4)
Anti-trust Economics
Design and Use of Patents
Economics of Networks and Interconnection
Industrial Organization Economics
About
Carl Shapiro is a Professor at Berkeley Haas and the Department of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. He also is the Berkeley Haas Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy Emeritus.
Shapiro served as a Senate-confirmed Member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers during 2011 to 2012. For the two years immediately prior to that, he was the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics at the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice; he also held that position during 1995 to 1996. From 1998 to 2008, he served as Director of the Institute of Business and Economic Research at UC Berkeley.
Shapiro has been editor and co-editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives and a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, among other honors. He earned his PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981, taught at Princeton University during the 1980s, and served on the faculty at UC Berkeley since 1990.
Shapiro has published extensively in the areas of industrial organization, competition policy, patents, the economics of innovation, the design and use of patents, and competitive strategy.
Shapiro is the co-author, with Hal R. Varian, of "Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy," published by the Harvard Business School Press. "Information Rules" has received critical acclaim for its application of economic principles to the Information Economy and has been widely read by managers and adopted for classroom use.
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Education (3)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: PhD, Economics
UC Berkeley: MA, Mathematics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: BS, Mathematics and Economics
Links (4)
Honors & Awards (5)
Economist of the Year, Global Competition Review
2017
Susan Bies Lecture on Economics and Public Policy
Northwestern University 2015
Distinguished Fellow, Industrial Organization Society
2013
Award for Excellence in Teaching, MBA Program, Haas School of Business
Honorable Mention, 1999-2000
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, 60th Anniversary Awardee
One of 60 Awardees selected from over 45,000 Fellows
Selected External Service & Affiliations (3)
- Senior Consultant: Charles River Associates
- Consultant: a wide range of private clients, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Federal Trade Commission
- Research Associate: National Bureau of Economic Research
Positions Held (1)
At Haas since 1990
2018 - present, Professor of the Graduate School 2018 - present, Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy Emeritus, Haas School 2011 - 2012, Member, President's Council of Economic Advisers 2009 - 2011 and 1995 - 1996, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice 1994-2017, Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy, Haas School 1990-2017, Professor Business and Economics, UC Berkeley 1980 - 1990, Professor, Woodrow Wilson School and Department of Economics, Princeton University
Media Appearances (2)
More than money: Solutions for reining in monopoly power
WBUR On Point radio
2022-02-18
In a multi-part series, the radio show explored the argument put forth by several members of the Biden administration that reining in monopoly power is critical to maintaining democracy. Professor Carl Shapiro, Transamerica Chair in Business Strategy Emeritus and former deputy assistant attorney general in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, has spent 25 years working to strengthen antitrust enforcement and researching the topic. "You can't tell the federal judge, here's what we need for democracy or our freedoms," he said. "I love the soaring rhetoric, but in the real world, you've got to convince the judge that the merger will substantially lessen competition or may do so. So that's an economic concept."
Antitrust & Competition Law in the Age of a Global Pandemic
National Law Review online
2020-03-27
It is said that people “come together” in times of crisis. Yet, businesses should be wary of collaboration with their rivals because antitrust laws apply equally in times of emergency as well as prosperity. Indeed, recent history and announcements from the Department of Justice signify a heightened focus on antitrust enforcement, especially with respect to markets affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Selected Papers & Publications (11)
Antitrust in a Time of Populism
International Journal of Industrial Organization
Carl Shapiro
February 2018
Horizontal Mergers, Market Structure, and Burdens of Proof
Yale Law Journal
Herbert Hovenkamp & Carl Shapiro
May 2018
How Antitrust Law Can Make FRAND Commitments More Effective
Yale Law Journal
A. Douglas Melamed & Carl Shapiro
May 2018
Whither Antitrust Enforcement in the Trump Administration?
Antitrust Source
Steven C. Salop & Carl Shapiro
2017
The Actavis Inference: Theory and Practice
Rutgers University Law Review
Carl Shapiro, Aaron Edlin, Scott Hemphill, and Herbert Hovenkamp
2015
Competition and Innovation: Did Arrow Hit the Bull’s Eye?,
The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity Revisited
Carl Shapiro
2012
The 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines: From Hedgehog to Fox in Forty Years
Antitrust Law Journal
Carl Shapiro
2010
How Strong Are Weak Patents?
American Economic Review
Carl Shapiro and Joseph Farrell
2008
Probabilistic Patents
Journal of Economic Perspectives
Carl Shapiro and Mark A. Lemley
2005
Teaching (1)
Economic Analysis for Business Decisions
BA 201A
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