Economic consulting

{{Short description|Analysis in a litigation environment}} '''Economic consulting''' is the practice of providing advanced economic, financial, and statistical analysis for use in litigation, regulatory, and commercial environments. Law firms, state institutions, and other organizations may rely on economic consultants to produce research, analyses, reports, and testimony to be used in trial. Economic consulting also deals with various matters that require data-intensive analyses, such as macroeconomics research, program evaluation, policymaking, and commercial strategies. Economic consultants are typically required to possess knowledge of statistics, econometrics, and computer programming, given the data-oriented nature of economic consulting case work.

Economic consulting consists of providing economic expertise in a variety of areas, including but not limited to antitrust; valuation; bankruptcy; energy; finance; healthcare; insurance; intellectual property; labor and employment; life sciences; cybersecurity; media and entertainment; and securities.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=May 4, 2021 |title=Careers in Economic and Litigation Consulting. |url=https://economics.virginia.edu/career/careers-economic-consulting#:~:text=In%20economic%20consulting%2C%20(sometimes%20referred,of%20business%2C%20economics%20and%20law.&text=Economic%20consulting%20firms%20are%20hired%20to%20consult%20on%20a%20case%20or%20dispute |access-date=May 4, 2021 |website=UVA Arts & Sciences, Department of Economics}}</ref><ref>''[https://schachterharris.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Garlock-Estimation-Order-1-10-141.pdf In re Garlock Sealing Technologies, LLC]'', No. 10-31607 (Bankr. W.D.N.C. January 10, 2014), 6.</ref><ref>[https://nsuarb.novascotia.ca/sites/default/files/Board%20Decision_14.pdf 2020 NSUARB 39 M08195 decision], 4, 8.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lipman |first=Melissa |date=August 14, 2014 |title=AmEx Expert Cites 'Gaping Hole' In DOJ Antitrust Theory |url=https://www.law360.com/articles/567473/amex-expert-cites-gaping-hole-in-doj-antitrust-theory |journal=Law360}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilts |first=Alex |date=September 30, 2020 |title=Traditional hospital definition 'rapidly changing', Jefferson chief executive says |url=https://globalcompetitionreview.com/gcr-usa/article/traditional-hospital-definition-rapidly-changing-jefferson-chief-executive-says |journal=GCR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Weatherford |first=Larry |title=So You Want to Learn about Economic Consulting: A Guide for College Students |publisher=Amazon |year=2021 |isbn=9798702071350 |language=en}}</ref> Economic consulting firms often provide the support team when a client hires a law firm or economic expert.<ref name="economics.virginia.edu">{{Cite web |date=May 4, 2021 |title=Careers in Economic and Litigation Consulting |url=https://economics.virginia.edu/career/careers-economic-consulting#:~:text=In%20economic%20consulting%2C%20(sometimes%20referred,of%20business%2C%20economics%20and%20law.&text=Economic%20consulting%20firms%20are%20hired%20to%20consult%20on%20a%20case%20or%20dispute |access-date=May 4, 2021 |website=UVA Arts & Sciences, Department of Economics}}</ref> The expert—typically a professor or a senior member of an economic consulting firm—will provide economic consulting by, for example, analyzing competitive effects, calculating damages, and testifying to one's expert opinion before a judge, jury, arbiter, or government enforcement agency.<ref name="economics.virginia.edu"/><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Samuelson |first=Martha |date=Spring–Summer 2005 |title=The Business of Economic Consulting |pages=1–2 |work=CSWEP Newsletter |url=https://www.analysisgroup.com/uploadedfiles/content/careers/cswep_ms_article.pdf |access-date=May 4, 2021}}</ref>

== History == Economic consulting began growing in the United States when, in 1936, the Department of Justice (DOJ) began employing economists to assist with its investigations and litigations of mergers and anti-competitive behavior.<ref name=":2">US Department of Justice, "Deputy Assistant Attorney General David Gelfand Delivers Remarks at the Bates White Antitrust Conference," press release, June 6, 2016, https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/deputy-assistant-attorney-general-david-gelfand-delivers-remarks-bates-white-antitrust</ref> Economic consulting firms began providing assistance to the companies being investigated and being sued by government agencies and their economists, and they soon began providing assistance to government agencies as well.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 4, 2021 |title=History |url=https://www.nera.com/about/history.html |access-date=August 4, 2021 |website=NERA Economic Consulting}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last1=Eisinger |first1=Jesse |last2=Elliott |first2=Justin |date=November 16, 2016 |title=These Professors Make More Than a Thousand Bucks an Hour Peddling Mega-Mergers |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/these-professors-make-more-than-thousand-bucks-hour-peddling-mega-mergers |journal=ProPublica}}</ref>

By the turn of the 21st century, economic consultancies had gained prominence, and their reports were often part of the court record and the basis for the court's opinions.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilts |first=Alex |date=September 30, 2020 |title=Traditional Hospital Definition 'Rapidly Changing', Jefferson Chief Executive Says |url=https://globalcompetitionreview.com/gcr-usa/article/traditional-hospital-definition-rapidly-changing-jefferson-chief-executive-says |journal=GCR}}</ref> In the late 1990s, the DOJ, direct action plaintiffs, and class action plaintiffs sued an international cartel of vitamin manufacturers, accusing them of conspiring to inflate prices in what became the largest price-fixing case in US history at that time.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bendavid |first=Naftali |date=May 21, 1999 |title=Vitamin Price-Fixing Draws Record $755 Million in Fines |work=The Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-05-21-9905210013-story.html |archive-url= https://archive.today/20241224170501/https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/05/21/vitamin-price-fixing-draws-record-755-million-in-fines/ |archive-date= 24 December 2024}}</ref> In the class certification phase, the judge's opinion cited evidence from both plaintiff and defendant economic experts regarding common impact of damages, price trends, and the structure of the vitamins industry.<ref>''[https://web.archive.org/web/20221011160756/https://casetext.com/case/in-re-vitamins-antitrust-litigation-192 In re Vitamins Antitrust Litigation]'', 209 F.R.D. 251 (D.D.C. 2002).</ref> This case was the first successful US prosecution of an international cartel.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 25, 2015 |title=Appendix A: Antitrust Division Selected Criminal Cases—April 1, 1996 through September 30, 1999—Vitamins |url=https://www.justice.gov/atr/selected-criminal-cases-antitrust-division |access-date=July 12, 2022 |website=Department of Justice}}</ref> Within a few years, even the Supreme Court was considering economic consulting work products to decide its cases.<ref>Kansas v. Colorado, 121 S.Ct. 2023, 2033, 533 U.S. 1, 18 (U.S., 2001).</ref><ref>Berghuis v. Smith, 130 S.Ct. 1382, 1390, 559 U.S. 314, 323 (U.S., 2010).</ref><ref>Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., 141 S.Ct. 1183 (U.S., 2021).</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cavanagh |first=Edward D. |date=2004 |title=Illinois Brick: A Look Back and a Look Ahead |journal=Consumer Law Review |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=1–52}}</ref>

== Function == Economic consulting services are generally divided into four types of services: conducting research; performing statistical and empirical economic analysis; responding to the opposing expert's work; and preparing an expert report and supporting the expert during trial.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=May 7, 2015 |title=Economic Consultant: Who Are They and Why You Need to Know |url=https://www.personalbrandingblog.com/economic-consulting-what-it-is-and-why-you-need-to-know-about-it/ |access-date=May 4, 2021 |website=Personal Branding Blog}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Consultants often begin by conducting research: they review materials provided in discovery, depositions, news articles, industry reports, and economic literature to gain industry knowledge and identify relevant information like the structure of the industry (e.g., competitors, relevant market size, competing products) and available data.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":0" /> This work may occur at the beginning of litigation or in a consulting or pre-litigation phase.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 4, 2021 |title=Economic Consultant |url=https://economics.byu.edu/after-graduation/careers/economic-consultant |access-date=May 4, 2021 |website=BYU Economics}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

Consultants perform empirical analysis, often developing complex regression models to determine factors such as the impact of a proposed merger or price increases due to anticompetitive behavior.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /> Consultants further review the work of the other party in litigation, analyzing the validity of the opposing expert's economic theory and analysis and often summarizing their expert's work and opinions in an expert report.<ref name=":4" /> Finally, if the case goes to trial, consultants support the expert during trial.<ref name=":0" />

== Criticism == Economic consultants are sometimes accused of using “junk science” to help their clients.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> In a 2016 speech, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General David Gelfand stated that economic consultancies often help him understand the complex economic issues underlying his cases.<ref name=":2" /> However, Gelfand also observed that some economic consulting presentations and reports rely on p-hacking (misusing data analysis to find patterns in data that can be presented as statistically significant) or misrepresent the evidence to support their client's goals.

A 2016 ''ProPublica'' article noted that economic consulting is a million-dollar industry, with top economic experts billing at over $1,000 an hour.<ref name=":3" /> Yet the experts’ reports are often confidential—meaning the public cannot scrutinize them—and their predictions often do not prove true.<ref name=":3" /> The article's authors credit the economic consulting industry with the decline in merger enforcement and the rise in market concentration.<ref name=":3" /> Additional scrutiny has occurred when economic consulting firms have been found to be working on both sides of the same case.<ref name=":3" />

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Economics consulting Category:Consultants Category:Economic occupations Category:Auditing