Ari Gerstle focuses on antitrust litigation and merger reviews. Dr. Gerstle has worked on multiple high-profile matters, including U.S. and Plaintiff States v. American Airlines Group Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp. and the JetBlue/Spirit Airlines merger.
Dr. Gerstle served for more than two decades in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Antitrust Division, first as an economist and later as an Assistant Chief in the Economic Analysis Group. In those roles, he developed economic theory and empirical analyses to inform recommendations to senior staff of the Antitrust Division on competition and enforcement issues in the airline, agriculture, and healthcare industries, among others.
As an Assistant Chief at the DOJ, Dr. Gerstle helped direct a group of 45 Ph.D. economists along with financial analysts, statisticians, and research assistants. He managed more than eighty matters, including merger, civil nonmerger, and criminal investigations.
Dr. Gerstle’s research has appeared in the Review of Industrial Organization, Research in Economics, and Applied Economics. In 2006, he served as an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Arts and Sciences, teaching microeconomic theory and policy.
Trends in Merger Investigations and Enforcement at the U.S. Antitrust Agencies: FY 2005–FY 2023
United States of America et al. v. JetBlue Airways Corporation and Spirit Airlines Inc.