We study rationalizable solutions in a linear asymmetric Cournot oligopoly. We show that symmetry across firms favors multiplicity of rationalizable solutions: A merger (implying a greater asymmetry across firms) makes out-of-equilibrium behavior less likely and should dampen &lquo;coordination&rquo;...

The contemporary tensions between patents and competition no longer reside in the traditional trade-off between the exclusionary right given to an inventor to encourage innovation, and the welfare loss induced by the market power associated to this right. They rather result from three important...

A large and growing informal sector is a major feature of developing countries. This paper analyzes coagglomeration patterns between formal and informal manufacturing enterprises in India. It studies (a) the causes underlying these patterns and (b) the positive externalities, if any, on the...

In this paper we analyse institutional issues of common interest to the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) and the European Agencies (EAs) created under the impulsion of EC law. Both sets of bodies are examined through the lenses of three institutional regulatory parameters, i.e. (i) the...

We analyze the competitive e?ects of backward vertical integration by a partially vertically integrated ?rm that competes with non-integrated ?rms both upstream and downstream. We show that vertical integration is procompetitive under fairly general conditions. It can be anticompetitive only if...

The normalisation of behaviours in economy starts with the definition of conduct rules and of defence means.

The strengths of the European competition regime are outlined before identifying challenges presented by the financial crisis. The argument moves from enforcement to systemic threats to the credibility of the economic models on which modern competition policy is based. It then turns from banking...

The paper examines the impact of regulatory intervention on store card interest rates, for a panel of UK store cards. Panel data estimation methods are used in conjunction with intervention analysis so that the impact of the investigations on store card interest rates can be examined. Results...

Motivated by the general lack of empirical scholarship concerning the cross-national environment for competition policy, I present measures here of the overall resources dedicated to competition policy and the merger policy work-load for thirty-two antitrust jurisdictions over the 1992-2007...

After several decades of a rather cooperative approach towards the prosecution of competition restrictions in Switzerland, the Federal Act on Cartels and Other Restraints of Competition (Cartel Act) of 1995 introduced a range of new provisions into Swiss competition law. In 2003, the Cartel Act...