M-RCBG Senior Fellow-Led Study Group: Michal Halperin
Tuesday, March 1, 4:00-5:30pm
Wexner 434A
In-person study group (open only to those with a Harvard ID)
In this study group, M-RCBG Senior Fellow Michal Halperin (former head of the Israeli Competition Authority) will demonstrate how network effect was created in the digital payment industry in Israel and will lead an interactive discussion on possible ways to regulate the market power of digital networks.
Michal Halperin is a legal expert in the fields of competition, antitrust laws and regulation. Between 2016 and 2021 she was the Director-General of the Israeli Competition Authority. She led the Competition Authority in merger review, criminal and administrative enforcement, advocacy for the promotion of competition, and economic research. In her term as head of the Competition Authority she instituted a reform of the Israeli Competition Law; created the Advocacy arm of the Competition Authority and built multi-disciplinary working teams. Under her guidance, the Authority transformed to become a key player in almost every economic reform in Israel. Some of the markets in which she was able to promote competition are the cellular, natural gas, dairy, and financial payment markets. Michal Halperin also led the Competition Authority’s criminal prosecution and administrative enforcement in landmark cases against cartels and dominant entities such as the elevator companies, the natural gas monopoly (Chevron) and Facebook. Prior to her term as Director-General of the Competition Authority, she was head of the Competition and Antitrust Group at Meitar Law. Michal Halperin also previously held the position of Chief Legal Advisor at the Israel Competition Authority (then Israel Antitrust Authority) where she headed a team of 25 legal professionals. From 2000 -2001, she was a Special Legal Advisor at Mintz Levin in Boston. She began her professional career as an intern in the Supreme Court of Israel, and was then a lawyer in Erdinast, Ben Nathan, Toledano & Co. Advocates, becoming a partner there after five years. Michal Halperin is a graduate of the Law Faculty of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. As a Senior Fellow at M-RCBG, her research will focus on finding the optimal competitive model for public health services. She will base her research on the Israeli model as a case study. Her faculty sponsor is Amitabh Chandra, Ethel Zimmerman Wiener Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Email: michalhalperin@hks.harvard.edu