Many important regulatory decisions are taken by professionals employing limited and conflicting evidence. We conduct an experiment in a merger regulation setting, identifying the role of different standards of proof, volumes of evidence, cost of error and professional or lay decision making....

Despite its importance and singularity, the EU’s state aid policy has attracted less scholarly attention than other elements of EU competition policy. Introducing the themes addressed by the special issue, this article briefly reviews the development of EU policy and highlights why the control...

We contrast the theory underpinning state aid for failing banks with that for failing firms in the non-financial sector. We argue that there is little justification for measures to ‘compensate’ rivals when the bank has been saved for reasons of systemic stability. The Commission’s approach...

Why do all the rules of good competition policy appear to fly out of the window when the banks get into trouble?

To understand the potential effectiveness of the CMA, we need to understand the organizations that are being merged. The CC and OFT are very different animals. Bruce Lyons (CCP, Univ. of East Anglia)

Headlines are made when the European Commission prohibits a merger, but this is actually very rare. Clearances subject to conditions (i.e. remedies) happen ten times as frequently, but have received far less attention in academic literature. This book provides an empirical assessment of the...

Mergers and remedies in the EU : an overview -- The literature on merger remedies -- Classification of merger remedies -- Methodology for assessment of mergers and remedies -- Structure and competitive process in paper and board markets -- Assessment of remedies adopted by the EC in paper...