Joshua Daniel Wright (born January 20, 1977) is an American economist and legal scholar who served as a commissioner of the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...

(FTC) from 2013 to 2015. He has been a professor of law at

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...

Antonin Scalia Law School The Antonin Scalia Law School (previously George Mason University School of Law) is the law school of George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly west of Washington, D.C., a ...

since 2004, and is the executive director of its Global Antitrust Institute.

Public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

material fro
"Joshua D. Wright"
a

webpage (accessed February 23, 2013). At the time of his nomination, Wright was the fourth economist to serve as a commissioner of the FTC. Wright is a leading scholar in the fields of

antitrust law Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...

law and economics Law and economics, or economic analysis of law, is the application of microeconomic theory to the analysis of law, which emerged primarily from scholars of the Chicago school of economics. Economic concepts are used to explain the effects of laws ...

, and

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

, and was described in ''

National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...

'' to be "widely considered his generation's greatest mind on antitrust law." He has published more than 100 articles and book chapters, co-authored a leading casebook, and edited several book volumes in these fields. Wright has served as co-editor of the ''

Supreme Court Economic Review The ''Supreme Court Economic Review'' is an academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press. The journal applies economic and legal scholarship to the work of the United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United S ...

'' and senior editor of the '' Antitrust Law Journal'', and in 2014 received the Paul M. Bator Award.

Early life and education

Wright was born and raised in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

.Wright Testimony
/ref> After graduating from Patrick Henry High School in 1995, Wright studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

, graduating in 1998 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

with highest departmental honors. He then went to the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(UCLA), where he jointly did doctoral study in economics and attended the

UCLA School of Law The UCLA School of Law is one of 12 professional schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Law has been consistently ranked by '' U.S. News & World Report'' as one of the top 20 law schools in the United States since the inception ...

. He received a J.D. in 2002 and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in economics in 2003. As a law student, Wright was a managing editor of the ''

UCLA Law Review The ''UCLA Law Review'' is a bimonthly law review established in 1953 and published by students of the UCLA School of Law, where it also sponsors an annual symposium. Membership is decided based on performance on a write-on competition. The edi ...

''.

Career

Wright was a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for Judge

James V. Selna James V. Selna (born February 22, 1945)Biography of James V. Selna

of the

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California The United States District Court for the Central District of California (in case citations, C.D. Cal.; commonly referred to as the CDCA or CACD) is a Federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in Southern and Central California, m ...

from 2003 to 2004. He then joined the faculty of the

Law School (now

). Wright served in the

(FTC) in the Bureau of Competition as its inaugural Scholar-in-Residence from 2007 to 2008, where he focused on enforcement matters and competition policy. In January 2013, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

appointed Wright to serve as a commissioner of the FTC. Wright served as an FTC commissioner until August 2015, when he resigned to return to academia. Wright is currently University Professor of Law at the Scalia Law School and the executive director of its Global Antitrust Institute. Wright favors maintaining the status quo in current U.S. antitrust law. Several large technology companies have donated to Wright's academic center at the Scalia Law School.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Joshua D. Living people Federal Trade Commission personnel University of California, San Diego alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni George Mason University School of Law faculty Pepperdine University faculty People from San Diego Scholars of competition law UCLA School of Law alumni 1977 births Obama administration personnel

Early life and education

Career

See also

References

External links