The so-called excess-entry theorem (Mankiw and Whinston 1986, Suzumura and Kiyono, 1987) establishes conditions guaranteeing that more firms enter a homogeneous Cournotoligopoly in equilibrium than a benevolent government prefers. We generalise the approach and analyse the behaviour of a...

On 28 May 2021, the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) adopted the Retail Trade Code of Practice (RTCP). The RTCP seeks to regulate the retailer-supplier trade relationships in the Kenyan market, ensuring that retailers do not abuse their buyer power. This essay examines the contents of the...

While economic theories indicate that market power by downstream firms can potentially counteract market power upstream, antitrust policy is opaque about whether to incorporate countervailing market power in merger analyses. We use detailed national claims data from the healthcare sector to...

Distribution cartels in the automotive sector used to be frequently dismantled and sanctioned by the European Commission and the EU Courts still some 15 years ago. In recent years, however, only a few cases have been reported at the national level of EU Member States. Is it because the...

Digitale Technologien und datengetriebene Geschäftsmodelle haben zur Entstehung einer neuen Generation von Weltmarktführern geführt, die ihre Marktposition durch die Orchestrierung digitaler Plattformen und Ökosysteme aufgebaut haben und weiter festigen. Neue Möglichkeiten der...

The pace at which markets are evolving, thanks to the accelerated adoption of digital technologies, poses important challenges to competition law and its enforcement. This work aims to support this process by building an understanding of the experiences of competition authorities in deciding on...

This is a review of Senator Amy Klobuchar's book, "Antitrust: Taking on Monopoly Power from the Gilded Age to the Digital Age."The traditional approach of a new Chair of the Antitrust Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee is to hold hearings and write a report as the basis for proposals...

This case note analyses and comments on the Belgian Competition Authority's approval of Telenet's acquisition of sole control over De Vijver Media. The decision, rendered in May 2019, allowed Telenet to acquire sole control over De Vijver Media but imposed several remedies on Telenet. The...

I present the following proposal: information revealed during non-cartel investigations by competition law enforcement authorities, such as evaluation of M&As or investigation of monopolization (dominance) conduct, should be directly used to investigate and prosecute cartels. Currently, in...

Price is one of the major factor that determines the consumability of a product in competitive market. In an ideal competitive world both consumers and the industry enjoys a symbiotic relation. However in an ideal situation it has been believed since industries’ motivation is profit which can...

Regulatory interventions aimed at promoting competition in digital markets face a challenge: how to design remedies that actually improve welfare? This Article helps provide an answer to this question. First, it maps out the frontier of remedy design: Part I.A summarizes antitrust and regulatory...

In recent years, there has been growing international cooperation between national competition authorities (NCAs). This takes various forms – from bilateral cooperation to establishing transnational competition networks. At the same time, this process has not been accompanied by the...

The book presents a comprehensive overview of international cooperation between the European National Competition Authorities (NCAs). It consists of fourteen contributions, accompanied by a selection of documents. The papers assembled in the book are of a diverse nature; there are articles,...

While economic theories indicate that market power by downstream firms can potentially counteract market power upstream, antitrust policy is opaque about whether to incorporate countervailing market power in merger analyses. We use detailed national claims data from the healthcare sector to...

In 1990, Egypt started in collaboration with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund structural economic reforms aiming at following the track of a market-oriented economy rather than its four-decade state-directed one. As a result, there was a need to reconsider the role of government in...

At the end of 2018, the European Parliament and Council adopted Directive (EU) 2019/1, often referred to as the 'ECN+ Directive', which, among other things, contains provisions ensuring the independence of the competition authorities of the EU Member States (national competition authorities or...

Partisan splits on antitrust enforcement are not new, but some recent divides have gone beyond the usual differences between Republicans and Democrats. Today, we see disagreements among commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission on foundational aspects of competition policy, such as the goals...

Antitrust authorities search public documents to discover anticompetitive mergers. Thus, investor disclosures may alert them to deals that would otherwise escape scrutiny, creating disincentives for managers to divulge transactions. We study this behavior in publicly traded US companies. First,...

In response to cartel formation, competition lawyers and policymakers in nine Asian jurisdictions have experimented with leniency programmes. This mechanism allows firms to come forward with information in relation to their illegal cartel participation in return for a reduction of or immunity...

The optimization of fines to deter and detect cartel behavior is one of the main goals of competition policy. Although it is generally argued that fines should be high to be deterrent, the debate on what constitutes an optimal fine is unsettled and some authors suggest using profits (rather than...

This paper considers the recent literature on firm markups in light of both new and classic work in the field of Industrial Organization. We detail the shortcomings of papers that rely on discredited approaches from the "structure-conduct-performance" literature. In contrast, papers based on...