E.CA Economics

We recently published the first issue of 𝐄.𝐂𝐀 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, our newsletter which will inform you about E.CA’s work, research, and other activities. The topics of this first issue are: ▶️ 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐞 500 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 We conducted a study on behalf of the European Commission that analysed the role of "Global Superstars" - the world's most successful companies by absolute profit and profit margin. Our analysis was part of a large-scale research project to assess the state of competition in the European economy (link to the full article in the first comment). ▶️ 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞-𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 Would vertical separation increase efficiency of Deutsche Bahn? We explained the main economic trade-offs of vertical separation in the rail sector in a new study on vertical integration, competition, and efficiency. ▶️ 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐈 & 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲 At our 2024 Expert Forum in Brussels we welcomed an impressive line-up of speakers including Olivier Guersent (DG Comp), and Mike Walker (CMA). Visit our website for the panel summaries and pictures from the event. ▶️ 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 2024  Our director and co-founder Rainer Nitsche has received the Competition Economist of the Year award, presented by Lexology Index in London. ▶️ 𝐖𝐖𝐋 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐄.𝐂𝐀 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 2024 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 We are pleased to see an increasing number of our experts in this year's Who's Who Legal reports on competition economists. Many thanks to all clients and partners who have contributed with their evaluations. If you also want to receive our newsletter E.CA Insights, please subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/dT3xxMyk

Our team will be at the Toulouse School of Economics this week! On 28 Nov, our colleagues Giulia and Raphaël will host a workshop titled 𝐄𝐱-𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐊. And one day after we’ll be at the Business Networking Day, eager to meet and connect with the bright minds of #TSE. Don’t miss the chance to stop by and say hi! 👋 Let’s exchange introductions and stories and explore how our paths might cross in the future. See you there!

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐞𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭?   Our director, Elżbieta Głowicka, will tackle this and other critical questions alongside Aleksander Stawicki, LL.M., Damian Olko and Mariusz Motyka-Mojkowski during the panel discussion "Economics in competition law – truth or myth?" at the XVI Congress of Competition Law. This event, organised by Puls Biznesu, will take place on 27–28 November at Barceló Warsaw Powiśle.   During the discussion, the panel will delve into the use of economics in competition law and its implications for antitrust practices. Topics will include the potential benefits of employing economic tools to assess market behaviour, the challenges associated with in-depth economic analyses, and strategies for fostering closer collaboration between lawyers and economists to address complex antitrust issues.   Join us for this thought-provoking discussion that brings together the expertise of both lawyers and economists to tackle one of the most pressing questions in competition law today.   #CompetitionLawCongress #PulsBiznesu #CompetitionEconomics #Antitrust

Our director, Alexis Walckiers, will speak at the 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐋𝐚𝐰 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐔 conference in Brussels, organised by Informa Connect, from 25 - 27 November. The title of his presentation is "𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 102: 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭'𝐬 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞". In his remarks, Alexis will consider how Article 102 affects the following points: ▶️ Defining markets ▶️ Showing anti-competitive effects ▶️ The ‘as-efficient-competition-test’ Concluding he will outline what a discussed "more economic approach" means and give his assessment of where we currently stand in implementing this request. We look forward to the event and the exchange with the other panelists and the audience.

On the 1️⃣6️⃣ of November, our directors, Linda Gratz and Alexis Walckiers, will be taking part in the annual ACE conference, held this year at the Università Bocconi in Milan. ▶️ Alexis will chair a panel examining a merger between two maritime transport companies in the Greek market together with Chrysovalantou Milliou (Athens University of Economics and Business), Angelos Stenimachitis (Compass Lexecon), Ioannis Kokkoris ((Queen Mary University of London), and Yossi Spiegel (Tel Aviv University). ▶️ Linda will join Christian H.ildebrandt (Monopolkommission) and Markus Reisinger (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management) to discuss a legal dispute between Meta and Deutsche Telekom in the context of the "fair share" debate. This ongoing case sheds light on crucial challenges in funding internet infrastructure, particularly the imbalances in bargaining power between major content providers like Meta and telecom operators. We are very much looking forward to exchanging ideas with other experts and the audience. #ACEConference #FairShareDebate #DigitalMarkets 

We congratulate our director and co-founder Rainer Nitsche on receiving the 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 award. This annual award was presented on the 7 November by Lexology Index in London. Many thanks to the organiser and to our clients and partners who have contributed to the assessment process with their favourable statements.   We congratulate all other winners of the evening.   Each year Lexology (formerly known as Who’s Who Legal) presents awards to the individuals and firms that have performed exceptionally well in their sector.

On 24 October, 5 pm, our director Simone Kohnz will speak at the Annual Conference on European Competition Law, organised by Academy of European Law ERA. Simone's presentation is intitled "Defining digital and innovation-intensive markets: key takeaways from the new Commission Notice on Market Definition".

Yesterday's autumn conference of the Centre for a Digital Society was a deep reflection on where we stand with the enforcement of the DMA. Thank you Marco Botta Klaudia Baradat Luigi Malferrari Simonetta Vezzoso Etienne Drouard for the discussion about "Consent vs pay" model. I shared insights from frontier empirical research on the trade-offs between privacy, economies of data and business performance of publishers and e-commerce (links to my favourite papers in the comment).

"The Digital Markets Act one Year after: Where do we stand?" This question will be discussed in the 2024 Autumn Conference of the Centre for a Digital Society on 18 Oct in Florence. Our director Elżbieta Głowicka will participate at the panel "Complying with Art. 5(2): Consent vs. Pay Model", moderated by Marco Botta. In the discussion with Luigi Malferrari, Klaudia Majcher, Simonetta Vezzoso, and Etienne Drouard Ela will review the recent empirical evidence of the value of users’ private data and will discuss the impact of different payment models on contestability in online advertising.  Over the link (▶️ first comment) you can still register for online participation. There you also find further information about the program.

On 1️⃣5️⃣ October 2024 in Brussels, our Director, Prof Lars-Hendrik Röller, will be speaking at a workshop hosted by Directorate-General for Competition on the European Commission's report, "Protecting Competition in a Changing World", published in June 2024. His panel 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 will be chaired by Reinhilde Veugelers (KU Leuven). The podium, including Maarten Pieter Schinkel (University of Amsterdam - Amsterdam Business School), Rupprecht Podszun (Düsseldorf University), Paolo Buccirossi (Lear), and Lars-Hendrik, will dicuss:   ▶️ The increasing concentration and rising markups in EU industries, accompanied by a decline in business dynamism. ▶️ The role of domestic competition in fostering productivity growth and export competitiveness for EU firms. ▶️ The potential macroeconomic advantages of strengthening competition in the EU.   📍 Karel van Miert Auditorium, DG Competition, Brussels 🗓️ 15 October 2024 | 2 - 5:30 pm   #DGCompetition #CompetitionEconomics #EconomicGrowth