06 Jun 2006
6-7 July 2006, University of East Anglia, Norwich
It wasn't simply the setting of the UEA Drama Studio that caused the ESRC Centre for Competition Policy's Annual Conference to be concluded with a round of applause worthy of a Shakespearean play. Over a hundred delegates departed having been entertained and engaged, and with minds full of cutting-edge research disclosed to them by the selected speakers - leading academics who have advised on competition cases that have been investigated by European courts and authorities.
This year's conference, entitled 'Cases in European Competition Policy: The Economic Analysis', was held on 6 and 7 July and successfully demonstrated the CCP's dedication to inter-disciplinary research. Over a period of a day and a half, the speakers examined the way in which economics is being used more and more in competition investigations throughout Europe. The slots set aside for discussion proved valuable as they allowed for free dialogue and frequent, involved debates. Since delegates came from widely varied backgrounds - ranging from practitioners, economists and lawyers to leading academics and PhD students - these slots also enabled the subject matter to become more approachable through conversation.
Identifying Unilateral and Coordinated Effects in Mergers
The conference kicked off with a talk by Steve Davies from CCP, who bravely stood in for an unavoidably absent Marc Ivaldi (Université de Toulouse). Steve's cramming beforehand paid off; a sometimes very technical presentation on merger simulation turned out to be well-received as an opening talk. Margaret Slade, from the University of Warwick, followed on from this with an assessment of the simulation of unilateral effects in appraising mergers. Kai-Uwe Kuhn, from the University of Michigan, then presented on collective dominance; he detailed excessive emphasis on price transparency, amongst other things, when capacity constraints are often of overriding importance.
Do Agreements Between Firms Harm Customers?
After lunch, Bruce Lyons of the CCP examined the extent to which it is necessary for sports governing bodies to restrain behaviour in order to maintain the integrity and quality of sport. Jean-Charles Rochet, from the Université de Toulouse, clarified the degree to which interchange fees and non-discrimination rules are necessary to achieve efficiency in a multi-sided market. In the afternoon Mike Waterson, from the University of Warwick, held an entertaining economic analysis of the litigation between tenants and brewers and concluded that sometimes it may be more beneficial to lose cases than to win them.
That evening, delegates were driven to Norwich City Football Club at Carrow Road, where they enjoyed a delicious meal at Delia's Restaurant.
Dominance and Damages
An uncommonly early start, and a return to the Drama Studio, saw Peter Møllgaard of the Copenhagen Business School confirm that there was "something...rotten in the state of Denmark", as he mused on the calculation of damages caused by a Danish pre-insulated pipe cartel. John Van Reenen, from the ESRC Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), followed by giving a clear analysis of the key issues surrounding Microsoft and their apparent perpetual investigation by competition authorities.
Do Oligopolistic Practices Harm Consumers?
Mark Armstrong, from the ESRC Centre for Economic Learning (ELSE), showed how unregulated termination charges by mobile phone companies would distort the market in the absence of regulation. Paul Dobson, from Loughborough University, was the last of the speakers; he looked at some of the recent issues facing UK supermarkets, such as accusations of monopoly status, and examined the different effects of buyer and seller power.
Summary
The conference had a great atmosphere and ran very smoothly: it was punctuated with coffee breaks which provided good opportunities for networking, and its audience gave the CCP strong encouragement in its work. The provision of bursaries enabled ten PhD students from all over the UK to attend, and thus the Centre ensured that the next generation of competition economists could meet and be stimulated by the current leaders in the field. The Centre looks forward to doing it all again next year, when the papers will have a comparative US-EU theme.
A book on these cases in European competition policy will be published next year, consisting of chapters written by the speakers at this conference. It will be published by Cambridge University Press.