The Role of Economics in Competition Law
Oxford, England
21 October 2003
Hosted By: Oxford University Law Faculty
NERA Director Dr. Mark Williams spoke at Oxford University's BCL Competition Law course on 21 October 2003 on the role of economics in competition law. Other speakers in the BCL lecture series included Sir Jeremy Lever, Malcolm Nicholson, Tim Muris, John Temple Lang, and Chris Bright.
Dr. Williams discussed how the role of economics in competition law cases in the UK, Europe, the US, and other jurisdictions has increased sharply in recent years to the point where almost all major competition cases now involve extensive economic input. Economic reasoning can even be found at the core of the vast majority of modern antitrust cases.
This trend has been reflected in personnel at the major European competition authorities, which have seen prominent academic economists appointed as heads of the regulatory agencies.
In addition, criticisms of the European Commission by the Court of First Instance in cases such as Airtours/First Choice and Schneider/Legrand have led to the reorganization of the European Commission, including the folding of the Merger Task Force into DGComp and, critically, the appointment by the Commission of a Chief Economist to advise on economic aspects of cases.
"In the last ten years, the role of economics has increased sharply. Modern competition lawyers now fully appreciate that concepts such as market definition, dominance, predation, foreclosure and whether mergers might lead to unilateral effects or coordinated effects simply cannot be answered without recourse to economic analysis," Dr. Williams said. "Just as antitrust economists cannot operate in a legal vacuum, the modern competition lawyer, in practice or academia, has to have a strong knowledge of antitrust economics."
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