Economic analysis in merger investigations

9 December 2020 Zoom meeting

2020 OECD GLOBAL FORUM ON COMPETITION EXPLORED ECONOMIC ANALYSIS IN MERGER INVESTIGATIONS

Economic analysis is a fundamental part of merger control. It underpins the theories of harm that guide merger reviews, and it provides the tools to interpret evidence when assessing these theories. Economic expertise can be of value at each stage of a merger investigation, from evidence gathering to the assessment of remedies.

The quantitative economic techniques used by competition authorities to analyse mergers range from diversion ratios, to pricing pressure indices, to merger simulations, among others. Several practical considerations and questions arise when using economic analysis in merger control, including: how to integrate economists into case handler teams, whether to use external expertise, and how to ensure economic analysis is easily comprehensible by decision-makers and courts.

In December 2020, the OECD Global Forum on Competition discussed after the expert panel, in breakout sessions organised in two time periods to enable as many delegates to participate as possible. For each time period, there was three breakout groups focusing on either:

Surveys and other data gathering techniques
Quantitative analysis
The role of economists in merger teams and qualitative evidence review

» Back to the Global Forum website

Speakers

Herbert FUNG Bio

Senior Director (Business and Economics), Competition and Consumer Commission (CCCS), Singapore

Guilherme MENDES RESENDE Bio

Chief Economist, CADE, Brazil

Pierre RÉGIBEAU Bio
Chief Competition Economist, European Commission

Oren RIGBI Bio

Chief Economist, Israel Competition Authority

Jill WALKER Bio
Member of the Australian Competition Tribunal and former Commissioner at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the New Zealand Commerce Commission (NZCC)

GFC blog series

This blog series is based on the 2020 Global Forum on Competition agenda and highlights some of the key issues that each session will address.

#1 How can competition law tackle misconduct in digital markets?

#2 Can market studies be a more effective tool for tackling emerging competition issues?

#3 Are digital markets bringing new challenges in abuse of dominance cases?

#4 Economising economic analysis for mergers in smaller markets

#5 How does the UK use market studies to tackle emerging competition issues?

#6 How is Mexico using market studies to tackle emerging competition issues?

#7 Economics in merger control: an invaluable tool at every step of the process

More coming!

Documents

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