Natural experiments may serve as a test of an economic theory that purports to evaluate the competitive effects of a proposed transaction and therefore play an important role in merger analysis. Using aggregate reviews of Federal Trade Commission merger studies, it is possible to identify a...

A dominant firm can abuse its position by charging unfair prices under EU competition law. Among other things, this prohibition has been used to prohibit excessive prices that are ‘too high'. This abuse has remained underdeveloped conceptually and in practice at the EU level, so there is...

In a 2015 article co-authored with three Yelp employees, Professor Wu purports to examine evidence from one experiment allegedly relevant to the question whether Google's display of local search results in a defined space on the search results page violates the antitrust laws. The authors rely...

EU competition law prohibits the abuse of a dominant position. An example of abuse is the charging of unfair prices. This prohibition in Article 102TFEU has been used to sanction excessive prices that are ‘too high’. According to the ECJ in United Brands, a price is abusive if (i) the...

In tort litigation, delayed settlement or impasse imposes high costs on the parties and society. Litigation institutions might influence social welfare by affecting the likelihood of out-of-court settlement and the potential injurers' investment in product safety. An appropriate design of...

Economists have two basic methodologies: structuralism, in which formal economic models control the analysis, and experimentalism, in which economic theory guides the analysis, but data from experiments determines the policy recommendation. The choice between the two approaches is often quite...

From the perspective of competitors, competition may be modeled as a prisoner's dilemma. Setting the monopoly price is cooperation, undercutting is defection. Jointly, competitors are better off if both are faithful to a cartel. Individually, profit is highest if only the competitor(s) is (are)...

We present results from a laboratory experiment identifying the main channels through which different law enforcement strategies deter organized economic crime. The absolute level of a fine has a strong deterrence effect, even when the exogenous probability of apprehension is zero. This effect...

Collusion by companies through cartels harms consumers by fixing prices and restricting output. To combat cartels, leniency programs are frequently used in the European Union (EU). Penalty is reduced for the company that reports the cartel, to the Antitrust Authorities first. The induced trust...

This paper presents results from a laboratory experiment on the channels through which different law enforcement strategies deter cartel formation. With leniency policies offering immunity to the first reporting party a high fine is the main determinant of deterrence, having a strong effect even...