This paper considers merger control in a common agency framework where firms and their competitors can influence the antitrust agency and where transparency - while making lobbying less effective - also implies real resource costs. We examine the performance of two alternative standards that can...

In this paper, we specify and estimate a structural model, which links product market competition and union power. The model has a two-stage setting, in which wages are determined through bargaining between management and unions in the first stage, with a price-setting market game to follow in...

This paper evaluates the effects of liberalizing access to the space sector, as currently envisaged by the EC Commission. We undertake an econometric evaluation of the degree of scale economies in satellite operations and calibrate a Cournot model of competition in which the effect of...

In this paper, we analyse the scope for conflict between national merger control agencies that assert jurisdictions simultaneously. We consider a positive model of merger control in which market definition and the analysis of dominance are both explicitly specified. We find that conflict in...

The objective of this Paper is to investigate the determinants of EU merger control decisions. We consider a sample of 164 EU merger control decisions and evaluate the anti-competitive consequences of these mergers from the reaction of the stock market price of competitors to the merging firms....

This paper provides a critical review of competition policy in Switzerland. We analyse the legal statute, the institutional arrangements for its implementation and the case law since 1985. We find that the Cartel Commission, which was given wide discretion by the law, has been relatively immune...

This paper analyses the political economy of trade liberalization by the European Community towards Eastern nations. We identify the sectors that are both sensitive and politically effective. We find that Eastern nations may have a comparative advantage in industries that use capital and...

This paper explores the link between trade and European labour markets by using evidence on relative commodity prices and intra-sectoral skill levels at the NACE three-digit level for the four large EC countries and for the period 1976–90. We find that if the relative import prices of...

This paper tries to assess how the current program of European integration will affect the structure of the European retail banking industry. It is argued that trade in banking services is, and will presumably remain, limited, while there is still concern about possible trade diversion. Next, we...

In this paper, we investigate the design and implementation of financial regulation where market failures are created by asymmetric information between investors and firms. We argue that reputation, while providing some correction for imperfect information, should be supplemented by financial...