Competition agencies have the power to close an antitrust case in return for the commitment to end the alleged infringement. We examine how such a procedure affects deterrence and consumer welfare. We first show that it lowers the deterrent effect of competition policy. However, under asymmetric...

We analyze the impact of the introduction of a commitments procedure in terms of efficiency and deterrence in antitrust contexts. This procedure consists in offering an immunity of fine to a firm in return for commitments that meet the competition concerns expressed to her. We first show that...

In Europe, competition authorities have the power to close antitrust cases with “commitment decisions” after the concerned firms have offered agreed remedies. We show that the optimal use of this instrument is governed by a tradeoff between deterrence of potentially anticompetitive practices...