Corporate monopolies are harming neighborhoods and communities across the country, every day. Though they work hard to hide it, these dominant corporations take advantage of workers and bully local businesses, siphon wealth out of local communities, lobby for huge corporate handouts from local taxpayers. Not only do these corporate giants undermine local democracies by reducing transparency between communities and elected officials, but they reduce economic opportunities for local businesses and entrepreneurs.
Fortunately, a new generation of policymakers are responding to threats at the state and local level. At Economic Liberties, we’re providing these leaders the hands-on policy advice and political support needed to ensure they succeed.
Learn What’s at Stake
In our research, you’ll find proposed state- and city-level solutions for addressing the harms caused by these corporations and actionable remedies.
The Local Harms of Amazon and What State Lawmakers Can Do About Them
This policy brief breaks down the harms Amazon inflicts on local communities, including businesses and workers, and lay out proactive policy solutions state lawmakers can adopt to deal with them. Where appropriate, model legislation has been suggested.
How States Can Take on Junk Fees
This policy brief explains how state lawmakers can protect their communities from the scourge of junk fees across the economy.
The Harms of Hospital Mergers and How to Stop Them
We lay out how hospital consolidation raise prices and lowers quality of care for patients, reduces access, and dampens wages and benefits for hospital staff, along with how policymakers can take action.
Critical Condition: How UPMC’s Monopoly Power Harms Workers and Patients
We lay out the effect of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s monopoly and monopsony power have on hospital workers and patients in the Pittsburgh area and provides policy recommendations for every level of government to rein in anti-competitive behavior.
Ban Secret Deals: How Secret Corporate Subsidy Deals Harm Communities, and What to Do About It
In a joint report with Fight Corporate Monopolies, we detail the harmful nature of secretive “economic development” deals and provide local communities with tools to combat them.
Why the 21st Century Antitrust Act is Critical for New York Workers
A report from the New Yorkers for a Fair Economy coalition reveals a striking correlation between declining wages within the warehouse and delivery industry and the growth of Amazon’s dominance in New York State.
The Dirtiest Dozen: New York’s Worst Economic Development Deals
With Hedge Clippers, Little Sis, Public Accountability Initiative, New York Communities for Change, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, Strong Economy for All, and the Invest in Our New York coalition, we catalog 12 of New York state’s worst economic development deals.
New York SB 933A: Protecting Workers and Small Businesses from Dominant Corporations
We break down New York's 933A, legislation that, if passed, will provide New Yorkers with important new protections from the abuses of dominant corporations.
None of Our Business? How Corporate Power Corrupts Local Economies and Democracies
We detail how corporations and local elected leaders collude to hide pro-corporate practices and policies from the public, and what local officials and voters can do to bring more accountability to their local government.
The Truth About Google, Facebook, and Small Businesses
We expose the ways Google and Facebook prey on small businesses and inspire terror across the commercial landscape.
What You Need to Know About the Interstate Compact Against Corporate Tax Giveaways
This quick take explains how a proposed interstate compact could help end the use of corporate tax incentives that extract wealth from local communities.
Tools for State & Local Leaders
We’ve released a set of three aggressive policy toolkits for state and local lawmakers seeking to tackle the harms of Big Tech firms, lax antitrust laws, and the corporate subsidy machine.
Tools To Challenge Big Medicine: A Guide for State Lawmakers
"Challenging Big Medicine: A Guide for State Lawmakers" serves as a how-to-guide for state and local lawmakers to fight back against corporate consolidation in healthcare and its harms to patients, healthcare workers, independent medical practices, and taxpayers.
Reforming Antitrust Policy to Challenge Corporate Power: A Guide for State Lawmakers
"Reforming Antitrust Policy to Challenge Corporate Power: A Guide for State Lawmakers" lays out several ways for state governments and enforcers to decentralize economic power, redistribute that power to communities, and create an inclusive, robust democracy.
Tools for Taking on the Corporate Subsidy Machine
“Tools for Taking on the Corporate Subsidy Machine” serves as a how-to-guide for state and local lawmakers to reform and rework corporate subsidy programs so that they are more transparent, better serve their communities, and don’t entrench dominant corporations.
Tools for Taking on Big Tech’s Economic Power: A Guide for State Lawmakers
“Tools for Taking on Big Tech’s Economic Power: A Guide for State Lawmakers” outlines potential policy solutions, and explains how to respond to some of the critiques – both legitimate and not – from those invested in the status quo.
Opportunities to Engage
From state enforcers filing antitrust suits against Big Tech firms to communities passing new laws to protect local businesses from predatory delivery app platforms and states updating antitrust laws—the momentum is growing to crack down on corporate actors. Join us!
Ban Secret Deals
Ban Secret Deals is a coalition of national and state-based policy and advocacy groups from across the political spectrum calling for state-level bans against the use of non-disclosure agreements in economic development deals.
New Yorkers for a Fair Economy
Labor organizations, small businesses, and immigrant and community organizations are uniting to safeguard our communities from abusive practices of big corporations and achieve an economy that works for all New Yorkers.
End Tax Giveaways
A coalition of 15 states (and counting) have proposed legislation to join together to form the interstate compact to end tax giveaways for big corporations. The compact would outlaw using taxpayer money or other economic privileges to poach an existing business in another compact state.
Key Media
Niagara-Gazette: 2 more watchdogs urge rejection of Amazon tax breaks
Niagara-Gazette: 2 more watchdogs urge rejection of Amazon tax breaks
New York Focus: Amazon Likely to Win Nine-Figure Tax Break To Build Western New York Warehouse
New York Focus: Amazon Likely to Win Nine-Figure Tax Break To Build Western New York Warehouse
The Heartland Pod: The Big Corporate Impact On Small Everyday Life: A Chat with Pat Garofalo of American Economic Liberties Project with Rachel Parker, host
The Heartland Pod: The Big Corporate Impact On Small Everyday Life: A Chat with Pat Garofalo of American Economic Liberties Project with Rachel Parker, host
The Center Square: New York tax dollars aid Corning expansion, but was it ‘going somewhere else?’
The Center Square: New York tax dollars aid Corning expansion, but was it ‘going somewhere else?’
Gizmodo: Is Google’s $90 Million Settlement a Win for App Developers, or for Google?
