In this article, we use a history of economic thought perspective to analyze the process by which the Chicago School of Antitrust emerged in the 1950s and became dominant in the US. We show the extent to which economic objectives and theoretical views shaped antitrust laws in their inception....

It is widely believed that fuel prices tend to rise swiftly when oil prices increase, but take longer to fall after oil prices decrease. This ¡°rockets and feathers¡± pattern could be due to tacit collusion at some level of the supply chain. We test the ¡°rockets and feathers¡±...

When large retailers merge, there is a concern that a sudden and marked increase in concentration will alter the intensity and nature of price competition to the detriment of consumers. This chapter considers just such a situation in regard to UK grocery retailing, which has witnessed steadily...

This chapter provides a comprehensive discussion of the deterrence properties of a competition policy regime. On the basis of the economic theory of law enforcement, we identify several factors that are likely to affect its degree of deterrence: (1) sanctions and damages; (2) financial and human...

We study the price effects of mergers in airline networks. Guided by a review of the existing theoretical and empirical literature, we develop two classifications of routes possibly affected by an airline merger. Subsequently, we apply a difference-in-differences approach to exemplarily...

Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) have been implemented broadly around the world in the infrastructure sector — water and sanitation, transports, energy, telecommunications — and, more recently, in the provision of public services — education, health, prisons, water...

We investigate the equilibrium market structure on competing online auction sites such as those of eBay or Yahoo! Building on the model of Ellison et al. (2004), we take full account of the complexity of network effects on such platforms. We extend the model by looking at the implication of...

In the context of globalisation and EU member states’ efforts to overcome the difficulties of the economic crisis, realising the full potential of the Single Market is the main component of a credible plan for higher and sustainable growth in the EU. Competition policy is the central pillar of...

The ultimate objective of the present paper is to empirically investigate the effectiveness of competition policy in developed and developing countries. Although its importance is continuously increasing, the effectiveness of competition policy still seems to lack the attention that it would...

The paper deals with the remedies that the EC Remedies notice 2008 discusses with respect to the vertical or horizontal operations of concentration. It deals both with the European practice and the Italian practice. The merger remedies are aimed at removing the competition concerns that mergers...