Abstract: Based on my recent work with several co-authors this paper explores the relationship between discretion, reputation, competition and entry in procurement markets. I focus especially on public procurement, which is highly regulated for accountability and trade reasons. In Europe...

This chapter assesses the use of public procurement to enforce labour standards from a competition and State aid perspective, and concentrates on the establishment of contract compliance clauses under the rules of Article 26 of Directive 2004/18/EC and Article 70 of Directive 2014/24/EU and in...

This paper discusses the current state of product market competition in Iceland, including the legal and regulatory framework, and suggests directions for further improvement. Given the size of the economy, efficiency considerations dictate high concentration in many markets, and preventing...

Regulatory reform efforts in a broad range of industries have resulted in increased importance of competitive forces as a means to allocate resources and improve economic efficiency. A number of indicators suggest that such forces have been stronger in the United States than in most other OECD...

This paper indentifies the two-dimensional relationship that procurement and competition keep. From a ‘market’ perspective, public procurement needs to take place in an environment free from collusion between tenderers, or bid rigging. Public buyers only can achieve value for money if...

One of the more common rules in federal government procurement is that the Government may describe its needs to the private sector by specifying a “brand name” product, as long as the Government adds the words “or equal” to the brand name and articulates the product’s salient physical,...

The paper investigates how competition between two multiproduct downstream firms in vertical relationships affects horizontal relationships: competitor collaboration and performance difference. When the upstream market consists of exclusive suppliers, the efficient firm may have incentive for...

In a setting of R&D co-opetition we study, by using an all-pay auction approach, how collaboration affects strategic decisions during a patent contest, and how the latter influences the possible collaboration network structures the firms can hope to form. The all pay auction approach allows us...

This article examines the meaning and scope of the notion of anticompetitive effects in EU competition law. It does so by bringing together several strands of the case law (and this across all provisions, namely Articles 101 and 102 TFEU and merger control). The analysis is structured around a...

This paper considers the interpretation of the substantive test laid down in Article 2 of Regulation 139/2004. It focuses on horizontal mergers in the so-called ‘gap’ cases, which would not result in the creation or the strengthening of a (single or collective) dominant position. In its...