2026 Conference: Can Capitalism Be Popular?

About the Conference

The Stigler Center's annual conference series has been at the forefront of shifting the debate on antitrust and economic concentration in the United States and beyond for years, with an unwavering commitment to providing a platform for voices from across the political and economic spectrum. The conference draws high-profile speakers such as Nobel Prize winners and FTC and DOJ leadership and receives regular coverage from major outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, and more.

In 2026, the Stigler Center is again undertaking a bold initiative: to explore whether capitalism can be popular in the United States in the 21st century. There is increasing consensus that capitalism, as materialized in the United States over the last 50 years, has not worked for most Americans. This conference will thus explore the possible intellectual foundations for a popular capitalism that meets the unique US challenges in the 21st century. More specifically: what is the intellectual and policy reform agenda that breaks the market dynamics enabling the extraction of economic rents—thus creating a fairer pre-distribution of economic resources—while at the same time encouraging long-term innovation, productivity growth, human flourishing, and the broader distribution of political power? From competition, labor, innovation, taxation and more, we will explore how popular capitalistic goals can be pursued across various policy areas and their potential for broad popular support.