Ron Knox is a Senior Researcher and Writer for ILSR’s Independent Business Initiative. A combined storyteller and antitrust expert, Ron is building our deep bench of reporting and research on the ways extreme corporate concentration has come to dominate and damage industries throughout the economy.
Ron’s writing in The Washington Post deftly explained Congress’s momentum toward breaking up Big Tech, and uncovered how hospital consolidation is shrinking the number of hospital beds, making it harder to fight the pandemic.
Wired published Ron’s groundbreaking report on how monopoly power has been disastrous for independent musicians, record labels, and live music venues. The article was a hit in the music world, with Kevin Erickson, the head of the Future of Music Coalition, calling the piece “great and timely.” It drew “the straight clear line from the frustrations in the music ecosystem to Congressional action.”
Ron is also unearthing monopolies in our food and farming systems. In The American Prospect, he showed how a highly-concentrated meat industry exacerbated the chaos of the pandemic. In Slate, he exposed destructive monopoly power in the beer industry. And in Civil Eats, he revealed how a peanut processing duopoly is likely costing farmers and taxpayers millions every year.
Ron’s research and analysis has also contributed to major ILSR projects, including Fighting Monopoly Power, our guide to opposing corporate concentration locally, and Amazon’s Monopoly Tollbooth, our examination of the exorbitant fees Amazon forces small businesses to pay to survive on its retail platform.
Before joining ILSR, Ron served in various senior editorial roles at Global Competition Review, an antitrust and competition law quarterly magazine and news service. His writing on music and pop culture have appeared in Slate, NPR, Vice, The Washington City Paper and elsewhere. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri.
