The first part of this paper focuses on competition between search engines that match user queries with webpages. User welfare, as measured by click-through rates on top-ranked pages, increases when network effects attract more users and generate economies of scale in data aggregation. However,...

In Google Shopping, the General Court took a giant leap forward. Remarkably, it held that the general principle of equal treatment, as a general principle of EU law, applies in the context of Article 102 TFEU for dominant undertakings. Based on this finding, it reframed the European Commission...

We analyze a hub-and-spoke cartel in the Brazilian automotive fuel industry. Using the court documents and detailed data on the supply chain we uncover three mechanisms beyond information sharing used by wholesalers (hub) to help retailers (spokes) solve the obstacles of price coordination:...

We present a model of a market failure based on a requirement provision by digital platforms in the acquisition of personal information from users of other products/services. We establish the economic harm from the market failure and the requirement using traditional antitrust methodology....

After a three-year investigation the German Competition Authority found Facebook's data policy abusive. In the authority's assessment, by making the use of its social-networking service conditional upon users granting extensive permission to collect and process their personal data, Facebook...

The European Commission (EC) and the European Courts have being reaffirming in the Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica cases that guide-prices established by sector regulators upon electronic communications incumbents cannot per se exclude that conducts with anticompetitive foreclosure effects,...

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...

Undertakings may restrict competition by cooperating with their competitors or by interfering with their ability to compete. In both cases, their ultimate goal is to raise the price they charge for their products or services. Therefore, the main concern about both collusive and exclusionary...

Margin squeezes can be evaluated under a predation or a refusal-to-deal standard. Both Carlton and Sidak argue in favor of using the predation standard. However, should the conditions for an abusive refusal to deal be satisfied, then margin squeezes should be prohibited even when prices are not...

This paper examines the effectiveness of the administrative fines imposed by the European Commission on cartels from an economic perspective. It reviews the theory, practice, and evidence of optimal fines and assesses whether the European Commission fines, leniency, and settlement procedures...