U.S. Department
of Justice
EAG Careers
The Expert Analysis Group (EAG) of the Antitrust Division is one of the world’s leading venues for developing and applying economics to real world questions of competition. Economists here routinely incorporate internal corporate data, business documents, and information from interviews of executives to understand and model competition from a perspective that is unavailable in typical academic settings. As a result, EAG economists can develop a uniquely relevant understanding of firm conduct in a wide variety of industries—from traditional manufacturing to high tech. Our analysis plays a central role in enforcement efforts to protect competition and benefit consumers through low prices, high quality, and innovation.
EAG is led by career managers and the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics. The Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics is a prominent industrial organization economist, typically on leave from an academic post.
Economists
EAG economists promote and protect competition through the application of rigorous economic principles to enforcement of our antitrust laws. We work with attorneys in the Division to investigate and litigate proposed mergers and allegations of anticompetitive conduct; investigate and prosecute price-fixing cartels; advocate for procompetitive laws, regulations, and policies; and provide guidance to businesses, consumers, workers, and counterpart agencies about the benefits of competition.
EAG economists contribute to the Division’s effectiveness in the following ways:
- We study the likely economic effects of mergers and business strategies by identifying candidate theories of harm to competition, conducting empirical analyses to assess those theories, and developing pragmatic solutions to economic and empirical challenges that arise in our fast-paced investigations.
- We design efficient plans for gathering and synthesizing confidential data and other economic evidence from market participants.
- We work in teams to build detailed understandings of markets and competitive strategies through research, empirical analyses, interviews with industry leaders, and review of company documents and internal communications. We test analyses and defenses presented by economists advocating for the investigated firms.
- We present our evaluations and make recommendations to Division leadership and actively collaborate in the decision-making process.
- In preparation for litigation, we advise and work alongside academics and other experts to shape and articulate their analyses and opinions. Some of us also serve as testifying economic experts in trials for the Division.
- We are proud of our ability to distill and communicate complex economic analyses and concepts to our attorney colleagues and to courts.
- Informed by our real-world investigations, EAG economists engage with and often contribute to the economics literature and professional debate. This allows us to build and share our applied and theory expertise, and to maintain and develop our skills and professional relationships.
To learn more about the experiences of economists in the Division, see our Meet Some of Our Economists page.
Apply for open economist positions on the USAJOBS.gov website.
EAG economist Diane Owen wrote about what it’s like to be an Antitrust Division economist. See her article in the June 2016 Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession newsletter.
Malika Krishna and Diwakar Raisingh are Economists with the Expert Analysis Group.
Read about Malika’s and Diwakar’s experiences at the Division in our Q&A with Malika Krishna and Diwakar Raisingh.
Visiting Economists
EAG maintains a program for academic visitors who offer skill and expertise relevant to competition economics and business strategy. The potential work spans a wide range of industries and issues. While many visitors are skilled industrial organization economists, applied microeconomists, or applied econometricians, the program is not limited to economists. We seek to bring in skills from a wide range of relevant disciplines. The positions are open to U.S. citizens who are on the faculty of colleges or universities in the U.S. We typically bring visitors into the Division through an Intergovernmental Personnel Agreement executed with their home department.
Visiting scholars, depending on assignment, might work side by side with EAG’s roughly 50 Ph.D. economists and data scientists on one or more current investigations into mergers or possible anticompetitive conduct, or contribute to competition advocacy and policy development. EAG professionals base their analyses on state-of-the-art economic theory, rigorous econometric studies, in-house knowledge of many industries, and current industry documents and interviews. Their recommendations play a key role in determining and implementing decisions of the U.S. Department of Justice. The complexity and wide range of economic issues examined and the opportunity to have a substantial and immediate impact make EAG a unique and exciting place to work. Visiting EAG provides a unique opportunity to deepen your knowledge of how firms compete in important sectors of the economy, sharpen your skills in applied analysis, spark new research ideas, have a substantial and immediate impact on public policy, and work with a skilled and experienced group of economists, data scientists and attorneys.
The Expert Analysis Group encourages research intended to lead to outside scholarly publication and presentation. We will invite visitors to share their current work with the group by participating in our academic seminar series. While there are strict limits on using confidential data, we hope visitors will embark on new work while here, stimulated by their casework and discussions with EAG colleagues. Past visitors report that the experience provides a wealth of ideas for new projects.
We are committed to recruiting an excellent and diversified group of professionals. If you or someone you know is interested in pursuing a visiting position, please submit a current curriculum vita and the time interval in which you might visit to atr.eag@usdoj.gov . You may also contact us with questions at that email address. We recommend contacting us by December of the academic year prior to your desired visit.
Research Assistants
Economics Research Analysts (RAs) work closely with Ph.D. economists to provide data analysis and research support in these investigations and Division trials. RAs get the opportunity to contribute to Division decisions in fields such as energy, health care, airlines, telecommunications, and many more. Whether researching a multibillion dollar proposed merger or investigating anticompetitive conduct, RAs work on cases that can affect the lives of millions of consumers. RAs assist in civil investigations of corporate mergers and acquisitions as well as in criminal antitrust cases such as price fixing and cartels. They play a vital role in ensuring enforcement of U.S. competition laws.
RAs work on data preparation and cleaning, data visualization (charts, tables, maps), regression analysis, and simulations. They use a wide variety of statistical software and programming languages including Stata, R, ArcGIS, Python, SAS, SQL, and Excel.
If you are interested in the RA position, please send an email to atr.eagra@usdoj.gov for the most current information about hiring.
Eva Utzschneider and Providence Weatherwax are Research Analysts with the Expert Analysis Group.
Read about Eva’s and Providence’s experiences at the Division in our Q&A with Eva and Providence.