Ken Heyer worked for more than 30 years as an economist at the United States federal competition agencies. Most recently (2012-2015) he served as Deputy Director in the Bureau of Economics at the United States Federal Trade Commission. In that capacity, he supervised the work of approximately 50 Ph.D economists and provided economic analysis and recommendations to the Agency’s Front Office attorneys and to its Commissioners. Prior to joining the FTC, Ken had worked for 29 years as an economist at the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice.
In 1999 Ken became the first recipient of the Antitrust Division’s William F. Baxter Award for outstanding contributions in the area of economic analysis. Ken has published several articles on antitrust economic issues and taught a course on Antitrust Economics at the George Mason Law School. Included among his publications are articles on optimal remedies for anticompetitive mergers, market definition and competitive effects (published in Chinese), welfare standards and merger analysis, the relevance of consumer testimony to merger analysis, proposed standards for antitrust policy towards single-firm conduct, merger review of firms in financial distress, and antitrust policy under uncertainty.
Ken received his BA from Queens College, CUNY and his PhD in Economics from UCLA.