12 Jun 2014
12-13 June 2014, University of East Anglia, Norwich Sometimes markets appear not to be working well for the consumer and can seem a bit ‘too hot' for regulators to handle while nobody is quite sure why or what should be done.
Often it is not clear if illegal activity is taking place and these 'problem markets' attract widespread attention amongst the public, politicians, academics and the media.
This provides a stream of work for competition agencies, despite there being no obvious contravention of competition or antitrust law. The work may sometimes be either inconclusive or ineffective and can cause concern amongst both politicians and academics.
With over 120 delegates in attendance from the worlds of academia and practice, the conference examined the key theme from a variety of multi-disciplinary perspectives. Factors identified as potentially creating problem markets included economic factors, both the demand-side and supply-side, as well as wider political and social factors. The potential to which intervention can help matters was also discussed, with reflection on the legal framework and past case experience in the UK, EU and US, as well as on number of specific ‘problem' sectors such as financial services, health, energy and air transport.
Speakers included leading international academics from University of California, University of Liège and Norwegian School of Economics, and representatives from both the public, private and third sector such as the Competition and Markets Authority, Ofcom, Institute for Fiscal Studies, RBB Economics and Which?
Presentations
DAY 1, Thursday 12 June 2014
Session 1: Introduction - What is a Problem Market?
Prof Amelia Fletcher, CCP & Norwich Business School, UEA: 'Problem Markets - The 'Gap' Between Core Competition and Consumer Law'
Ashleye Gunn, Which?: 'How Which? Chooses What to Campaign On'
Catherine Waddams, CCP & Norwich Business School, UEA: 'Consumer Response in Energy'
Session 2: Experience to Date - US and EU
Fabienne Ilzkovitz & Adriaan Dierx, DG COMP, European Commission: 'Problem Markets: The EU experience'
Prof William E. Kovacic, George Washington University & Competition and Markets Authority (CMA): 'Preeminent Problem Market: The US Petroleum Products Sector'
Session 3: Legal Framework
Prof Hussein Kassim, CCP & School of Political, Social and International Studies, UEA & Hillary Jennings, CCP & Independent Consultant: 'Market Studies - An International Success Story'
Prof Ariel Ezrachi, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford: 'The Curious Case of Competition and Quality'
Prof Nicolas Petit, University of Liège, Belgium: 'Problem Practices" in EU Competition Law'
Session 4: Competition and the Demand-Side
Prof Joseph Farrell, University of California, Berkeley, USA : 'Problem Markets: The Demand-Side'
Geoffrey Myers & Katie Curry, Ofcom: 'Calls to Non-Geographic Numbers - Changing the Regulatory Regime in a Problem Market'
Session 5: The UK Experience of Market Investigations
Andrea Coscelli, Competition and Markets Authority (CMA): 'The UK Experience of Market Investigations'
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DAY 2, Friday 13 June 2014
Session 6: Supply-Side Issues That Fall Outside of Standard Antitrust Law
Prof Frode Steen, Norwegian School of Economics (NHH): 'Disadvantageous semicollusion: Large Customer Competition'
Prof Severin Borenstein, University of California, Berkeley, USA: 'Are Airlines a Problem Market? A US Perspective'
Session 7: Thin Markets and Market Manipulation
Prof Michael Waterson, University of Warwick: 'Electricity - A Problem Market'
Prof Rosa M. Abrantes-Metz, Global Economics Group & NYU Stern School of Business: 'Problem Markets: Financial Benchmarks & Credit Ratings'
Session 8: Competition with Divergent Public Policy Concerns
Prof Rachel Griffith, Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) & University of Manchester: 'Government Intervention in Food Markets'
Prof Carol Propper, Unviersity of Bristol & Imperial College Business School - 'Competition in Health Care: What Can We Learn from the UK?'
Session 9: Debate
"This house believes that interventions which go beyond standard antitrust and consumer law have a valuable role to play in tackling problem markets"
Proposing: Mike Walker, Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) & Anneli Howard, Monckton Chambers
Opposing: Adrian Majumdar, RBB Economics & Niamh Dunne, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University
Final Judgement: Prof Bruce Lyons, CCP & School of Economic UEA