"It's an expert thing" - well, I think that effects of the shift should also be palpable (kitchen table topic, e.g. "look, we have interoperability we grandma's favourite service!"]
Exculpatory narratives (@superwuster), demand for them and agencies believing them - what could possibly go wrong?
...with a little help from the German legislator - and more coming 😉#BruxConf2023
Thrilled that many are mentioning UK open banking - it's much about interoperability (open APIs, etc.), guys #BruxConf2023
More economics, less enforcement, suboptimal economic effects @TomValletti - one merger per year prohibited by @EU_Competition
The "Orthodox but progressive" economist says, please, not more "allegedly sophisticated economics" - incentives, resources all wrong @TomValletti - simple and coherent economics needed
...economics helpful in understanding business strategy, incentives, etc. Agree, but well beyond IO, if I may
The amazing @johnmarknewman up now: "the law has some catching up to do"
Rusty legal tools - but not dead law #Meta_Within - they are on the table, and sharp enough
Political economy we don't want: companies as central planners ("buying instead of building") @johnmarknewman
Plugging the legal gaps: more international cooperation in antitrust needed - Margarida Matos Rita #BruxConf2023
Now the orthodox and progressive Martijin Snoep - also national *regulator* under the DMA (nice he mentioned it) #BruxConf2023
Nice case before EU courts in merger control just mentioned "how significant" should be each individual transaction be if there are many?
[New Competition Tool off the table - still mourning myself]
Fairness and exploitative abuses - current Apple cases moving in that direction, we are hearing #BruxConf2023
More sustainable supply chains in order to avoid (?) the climate disaster - Article 101.3 comes to rescue, with a couple of nudges (4.000.000 🐄in the NL)
"Whole-of-government approach" beyond the FTC/DOJ [some agencies dragging their feet, however - my impression] #BruxConf2023
"Courts have considerable leeway" AG Kokott #BruxConf2023
1) Containing market power, corporate liability extended; 2) Strengthening defence rights of companies of market power - more economic approach still blossoming in the EU - perhaps revising EU Art. 102 guidelines might have helped;
[Worrying, from a Judge: more economic approach here to stay, underenforcement a real risk]
3) Killer acquisitions: plugging a gap possible 🙌
Supplementary application of Art.102 (2), Art. 22 MR...Illumina good news so far, of course.
DMA: gaps plugging in the area of merger control? 🤔#BruxConf2023
Digital: 1) How does competition in this industry present itself? A tough but essential Q. "We need models that fit facts":
-intermediaries, often endless possibilities of anticompetitive behaviour
-- concentration, tipping markets (interrelated actions)
-- setting the rules
Self-preferencing label, not a safe-harbour Jonathan Kanter - #BruxConf2023
Structural reliefs always on the table (thus, e.g., "incentives to interoperate" may also be triggered 👍), as already shown -BTW
"An all-economist panel" - haven't we just heard that the more economic approach has caused underenforcement 🤔? Reflection on what went wrong but able to come up with something better, now? #BruxConf2023
Models getting it wrong - because, e.g., free entry assumptions are, well, fugazi - nobody to blame?
Innovation and theories of harm @johnvanreenen (me: not waiting for IO economists to develop them); praising ex-ante regulation (also in order to incrementally build expertise, an important point made by Chiara @Arcep on Monday)
Yes, gatekeepers are going to drag their feet...So what 😊? The DMA is powerful (it helps if economists might read all those complex provisions)
Overinvesting ("in buying") in order to keep out the competition @jan_eeckhout
Network theory of market power - nodes and links @BPellegrino_UMD - no need to define markets (well, this is becoming less important in any case 😉) #BruxConf2023
Working in the @FTC trenches, Aviv Nevo - we need "more economics in terms of being broader" #BruxConf2023
Transaction values matter, says Chiara Fumagalli. Well, the DMA at least is shining some light on all the transactions by gatekeepers - focusing on the high-value ones as a second step, perhaps -#BruxConf2023
Upcoming Merger Guidelines @Susan_Athey
What's competition, in this setting? Increasing barriers to entry, blocking a nascent competitor, future competition, and so on...
Thinking about market definition "more realistically", to avoid "confusion", and deriving the relevant market directly from the facts @Susan_Athey#BruxConf2023 [actually, at least in Meta/Within, it was actually not much of a burden]
Pierre Régibeau - killer acquisitions below the threshold are a thing #BruxConf2023
PR still wishing we could devote some (academic, possibly) thinking to things we could be better - don't getting "crazy about" new theories of harm because, of course, we have so much time as we like because in the long term we'll be all dead in any case #BruxConf2023 OK
Turning point: Furman Review - Sarah Cardell @CMAgovUK
Uncertainty as dealt in the UK merger guidelines - one of my favourite reads - also the UK Court "liked" them BTW #BruxConf2023
Economic framework we need: no labels, not much overlaid complexity, but they should be helpful in explaining how competition in reality works (commercial realities) - it's not a precise science, we might occasionally get it wrong - Brava
[Personal note: my deep frustration as an antitrust legal scholar having to cope with totally unrealistic Chicago theories developed into a PhD on vertical restraints embracing broader economic theories - 20 y. ago]
"The move to establish minimum standards builds on efforts in recent decades to write minimum security standards, especially in the energy industry, and Thursday’s document makes clear that similar measures are coming for other critical infrastructure sectors"
"Shape Market Forces to Drive Security and Resilience" – We will place responsibility on those within our digital ecosystem that are best positioned to reduce risk and shift the consequences of poor cybersecurity away from the most vulnerable..."
Reading Schwab's compromise amendments (Amazon/Apple later, @SebastianLouven ) - an hidden pearl is that "The Commission may also ask one or more competent national authorities to support its market investigation" - also a DPA, of course 🙂
Missing comma between health tracking and financial services (intriguing Recital 64)
And how not to love the possibility of interim measures "where a risk of serious and immediate damage for business users or end-users of gatekeepers could result from new practices that may undermine contestability of core platform services"?
“According to respondents, the prevalence of proprietary technology, leading at times to the creation of “de facto standards”, together with technology fragmentation and lack of common standards, raise concerns as to the lack of interoperability in the Consumer IoT sector”
”The information collected in the context of the sector inquiry on the consumer IoT will provide guidance to the Commission's future enforcement *and* regulatory activity”