Competition Policy for International Development, Growth, and Trade
Brussels, Belgium
9 December 2005- 10 December 2005
Hosted By: the Centre for Economic Policy Research
Industrial organization economists from leading universities, including Harvard, London School of Economics, and Toulouse, gathered at this conference hosted by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in Brussels on 10 December 2005. NERA Director Dr. Mark Williams spoke in a plenary session on "Competition Policy for International Development, Growth, and Trade" along with Kirti Mehta of the European Commission and Frederic Jenny, Chairman of the OECD Competition Committee and judge of the Cour de Cassation, Paris.
Dr. Williams presented on the rise of economics in competition policy over the last 25 years, and reported the empirical evidence on which economic factors (e.g., market share, entry barriers, or buyer power) appear to drive agency decisions. He also commented on a number of areas that might merit more detailed research, including the debate on whether fixed costs (as opposed to marginal costs) affect pricing and output decisions, and the impact, if any, of capital structure on firm conduct. Dr. Williams then questioned the relative size of the welfare gains from competition policy as opposed to trade liberalization, and concluded his presentation by questioning whether actual decisions were changed when most competition authorities adopted a consumer welfare standard rather than a total welfare standard.
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