Monday 18 October 2004 16h00

Venue: Centre for Competition Law & Policy at the Law Board Room, St Cross Building

Organised by Centre for Competition Law & Policy

Speaker: Mark Williams (NERA)

Programme:

Dr. Mark Williams, Chair of NERA's European Competition Policy Practice and a Director in NERA's London and Brussels offices, will speak at the Centre for Competition Law and Policy on 18 October 2004 on the subject of Antitrust Economics. Dr. Williams will begin his remarks by noting the increasing trend, in competition law jurisdictions around the world, towards the use of economic evidence, to the point where almost all major competition cases now involve extensive economic input. He will also note that this trend has been reflected in personnel at the major European competition authorities, not just the appointment of Hendrik Roeller as Chief Economist of DGComp, but also the fact that various national authorities in Europe, including the Office of Fair Trading and Competition Commission in the UK and the national authorities in Ireland and Spain, are headed by economists. 'The legal questions -- whether they be of dominance, predation, or lessening of competition -- are essentially economic questions,' says Dr Williams. In merger cases, authorities have to forecast two future paths -- the future with the merger, and what would have happened but for the merger. This exercise requires not just forensic market analysis, but also choosing the appropriate economic models to analyze the market in question. In abuse cases, ex post analysis of the market takes place through the lens of the economics of topics such as predation, bundling price discrimination. 'The modern competition lawyer needs antitrust economics in his or her toolkit,' says Dr. Williams.

For more information please see the event website