Antitrust Economics
Oxford, England
18 October 2004
Hosted By: the University of Oxford Centre for Competition Law and Policy
Dr. Mark Williams, Chair of NERA's European Competition Policy Practice and a Director in NERA's London and Brussels offices, spoke at Oxford University's newly founded Centre for Competition Law and Policy on 18 October 2004 on the subject of Antitrust Economics. The program of visiting speakers brought together leading practitioners and academics to discuss recent developments in competition law and policy. Lectures covered both the law and economics of competition law and were open to students, academics and the general public. Others speakers at the seminar series included John Vickers, Chairman of the UK Office of Fair Trading and lawyers from prominent law firms including Slaughter and May and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton.
Dr. Williams began his remarks by noting the increasing trend, in competition law jurisdictions around the world, towards the use of economic evidence, to the point where almost all major competition cases now involve extensive economic input. He also noted that this trend has been reflected in personnel at the major European competition authorities, not just the appointment of Hendrik Roeller as Chief Economist of DGComp, but also the fact that various national authorities in Europe, including the Office of Fair Trading and Competition Commission in the UK and the national authorities in Ireland and Spain, are headed by economists.
"The legal questions -- whether they be of dominance, predation, or lessening of competition -- are essentially economic questions," said Dr. Williams. In merger cases, authorities have to forecast two future paths -- the future with the merger, and what would have happened but for the merger. This exercise requires not just forensic market analysis, but also choosing the appropriate economic models to analyze the market in question. In abuse cases, ex post analysis of the market takes place through the lens of the economics of topics such as predation, bundling price discrimination. "The modern competition lawyer needs antitrust economics in his or her toolkit," said Dr. Williams.
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