Topics in Antitrust

This class is a sequel to the Industrial Organization class taught in S1 by B. Caillaud and J.-P. Tropeano, but it has a different balance between theory and applications, with more emphasis on the application of theory to competition policy. In fact, one could almost put it the other way around, since many of the theoretical models taught in this class were developed to address issues raised by competition authorities in recent cases. The reading list also includes a few articles by legal scholars in order to provide context and show how students and practitioners of competition law make use of economic theory.

The class will focus on three broad topics: exclusionary strategies, how firms collude (with a focus on information exchanges and ‘hub-and-spoke’) and new theories of harm for mergers. Each class will blend a presentation of the main models and a discussion of decisions by competition authorities (for the most part, the European Commission).

Grading will be based on student presentations that will be assigned during the first class. I expect the first student presentations to take place during the fourth class. The earliest presentations will benefit from more lenient grading to account for the more limited time.

Teacher(s): David Spector (spector@pse.ens.fr)

Pratical information: S4, 18h, Campus Jourdan, cours du M2 APE.