Objective
This research project is about the analysis of competition policy in international markets. The steady progress of international economic integration, and the dramatic changes in technology in the past decade have raised new and difficult issues for the design and implementation of competition policy. The research and training network described in this proposal will respond to this challenge by developing new approaches to the analysis of competition policy, both at the national as well as supra-national levels. In particular, we propose to investigate the following areas. The Nature of Competition in International Markets. The assessment of firms' conduct is more delicate in new and international markets where innovation, natural monopolies, network externalities, and standard setting play important roles. This part of the project will thus seek to gain a better understanding of competition in these markets and to develop improved guidelines for policy. Economic Integration and the International Architecture of Competition Policy. In response to the above changes, there has been a dramatically increase in trade, FDI and cross-border M&A activities. There has also been renewed activity in competition enforcement and at times simultaneous enforcement by several agencies. This part of the project explores the implications of economic integration for the architecture of competition policy enforcement and the allocation of competence between different jurisdictions. The Political Economy of Competition Policy. Competition policy is an area where enforcers have important discretion. The influence that can be brought to bear on civil servants and the characteristics of the institutions in which they operate can then be instrumental for the policy outcome. The third part of the project will thus analyze the decision making of antitrust agencies by explicitly modeling political economy interactions.
Fields of science
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
NET - Research network contractsCoordinator
10785 BERLIN
Germany