The English courts in Sainsbury's v. MasterCard and Morrisons v. MasterCard came to opposite conclusions on the illegality of MasterCard's multilateral interchange fees (MIFs). While both courts posited bilateral counterfactuals, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in Sainsbury's held that...

Sainsbury's v. MasterCard establishes the pass-on “defence” in English/UK law. The Competition Appeal Tribunal set out a two-part test which it erroneously distinguished from the economists' notion of pass-on. It then went on the develop key elements of legal test for pass-on in price fixing...

As technology and interconnectivity have continued to flourish, so too has an important and complex form of enterprise: the platform. Services like Uber, Google Search, Hulu, and American Express cater to distinct but deeply-interdependent “sides” of customers that derive value or revenues...

This paper describes some major trends in cartelization of markets worldwide with a special emphasis on the economic injuries being generated by illegal collusion. Known affected commerce by international cartels discovered during 1990-2014 exceeds a nominal $13.6 trillion worldwide. Projections...

The UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has been a highly rated competition law enforcer. Yet its antitrust performance activities fall far short of this image. Here a critical assessment is made of the OFT's antitrust enforcement activities, and the claim that there is quantitative survey evidence...

The standard of proof required in merger cases has become the centre of considerable controversies and confusion following the Australian Federal Court's decision in Metcash. This paper reviews the use of counterfactuals and the inherent contradictions in adopting the real chance standard of...

These two papers look at recent decisions and controversies surrounding the counterfactual test under s 36 of the New Zealand Commerce Act 1986, and s46 of the Australian Competition and Consumer Act 2010 respectively. In 2010 the New Zealand Supreme Court in 0867 affirmed the counterfactual as...

Based on an analysis of cartel prosecutions since 2007, this article assesses the way the European Commission has built up its fines in practice. The fines are compared with those imposed by the European Commission over the period from 1999 to 2006. The main findings are that, while fines have...

The certifications of the first two opt-out collective (class) actions - Gibson v. Pride Mobility Scooter and Merricks v MasterCard - were dismissed by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) under the new UK competition law ‘class action' regime. Here a critical assessment of the CAT's two...

When it comes to finding whether a firm has violated antitrust law, economists are often called upon as expert witnesses by the parties involved in litigation. This paper focuses on a challenge that economists may face when appearing as expert witnesses in US federal courts, namely to comply...