"Cop on the beat." That's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan's description of the agency she oversees. But such an ahistorical description of the FTC is antithetical to the very reason the agency and its partner department, the Department of Justice, were created.

Indeed, nearly a century ago, FTC Chair Robert E. Freer set forth that the primary goal of antitrust law was not merely to police business but also to conduct research and report to Congress ways in which economic transactions can be improved through subsequent legislation.