This paper presents some of the most important microeconomic tools used in assessing antitrust and merger cases by the competition authorities. By explaining the way that microeconomic concepts like “market power”, “critical loss” or “price elasticity of demand” are used by the...

L’Autorité de la concurrence doit-elle, dans le cadre de sa fonction consultative, disposer de toutes libertés ? Retour sur l’avis n°12-A-01 du 11 janvier 2012 portant sur la distribution alimentaire à Paris Marc Deschamps1 ATER à l’Université de Lorraine, GREDEG-CNRS et BETA-CNRS...

We assess the impact of merger policy on entry and entrepreneurship. When faced with uncertainty about its prospects, and foreseeing that it may wish to leave the market should profitability prove poor, a rational entrant considers possible exit routes. Horizontal merger reduces competition...

I analyze a model of hold-up with asymmetric information at the contracting stage. The asymmetry of information concerns the value of trade with external parties. I show that contractual signaling and efficiency of investment can conflict if only quantity is contractible. This conflict generates...

We propose a framework to examine convergence in the jurisdictional patterns of the American FTC and the European Commission. Based on a sample of 595 merger cases scrutinized by either of these agencies in the 1995–2007 period, we estimate logit models of the probability of intervening in a...

In this paper we analyse the horizontal merger of companies in an already concentrated industry. The participants in mergers are obliged to submit notification to the Competition Commission but they also have the option of rejecting the merger. At the time of the notification submission the...

We examine aspects of how new technology may be transferred to firms that use it in a final product market. Should technology transfer take place to a single firm or to more than one, and should it happen gradually or at once? How do the incompleteness of contracts and the nature of product...

In this chapter, we review some recent work on public intervention in economic environments where firms undertake investments in research or in physical assets, and then select appropriate business practices to extract profits from the outcomes of the investment process. Public policies may take...

We study the impact of legal principles on the design and the effectiveness of antitrust fines. Modern antitrust enforcement obeys four basic legal principles: punishments should fit the crime, proportionality, bankruptcy considerations, and minimum fines. We integrate these principles into a...

Public policy makers around the world are concerned with the cost and quality of healthcare. I argue that competition-policy economics can make valuable contributions to solving the healthcare crisis by addressing four fundamental questions:Why don't insurance companies offer policies that...