THE LAW AND ECONOMICS OF ANTITRUST AND REGULATION
Syllabus
EN
IT
Learning Objectives
LEARNING OUTCOMES: The main goal of the course is to introduce the students to the economic rational and possible consequences of market regulation and antitrust laws, focussing in particular on digital markets and the global platforms that dominate them. It will also lead students to learn the economic perspective on the optimal law enforcement policies against collaborative/organized economic crimes like cartels, corruption and large financial frauds.
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: The final goal is to gain a comprehensive knowledge of the main forces driving to anticompetitive market outcomes, with particular attention to digital markets, and the tools available to regulators to counter these forces.
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: At the end of the course students should be able to fully understand the current economic and political debate on the evolution of antitrust laws and regulation, as well as the logic behind specific antitrust cases.
MAKING JUDGEMENTS: At the end of the course, the student will have acquired the
theoretical and methodological to form autonomous critical judgement on the evolution of competitive problems and of the regulatory environment needed to counter them.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS: Students must be able to use the tools learned during the course to interpret and discuss present and future forms of potentially anticompetitive behaviors.
LEARNING SKILLS: Students will have learn the basic knowledge that allow them to frame in a richer context future more technical courses on economics and law of anticompetitive behavior and policies to counter them.
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: The final goal is to gain a comprehensive knowledge of the main forces driving to anticompetitive market outcomes, with particular attention to digital markets, and the tools available to regulators to counter these forces.
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: At the end of the course students should be able to fully understand the current economic and political debate on the evolution of antitrust laws and regulation, as well as the logic behind specific antitrust cases.
MAKING JUDGEMENTS: At the end of the course, the student will have acquired the
theoretical and methodological to form autonomous critical judgement on the evolution of competitive problems and of the regulatory environment needed to counter them.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS: Students must be able to use the tools learned during the course to interpret and discuss present and future forms of potentially anticompetitive behaviors.
LEARNING SKILLS: Students will have learn the basic knowledge that allow them to frame in a richer context future more technical courses on economics and law of anticompetitive behavior and policies to counter them.
Prerequisites
A course in Microeconomics is necessary, a course in Game Theory or Industrial
Organization would be very welcome.
Organization would be very welcome.
Program
The following topics will be discussed:
- Introduction to Regulation and Antitrust in a global perspective
- What is different for digital markets
- Cartels
- Basic elements of the economics of law enforcement: crime, punishment and
deterrence
- Leniency policies, damages, whistleblower rewards
- Theories of harm and vertical restraints
- Vertical forclosure and other abuses of dominance
- Mergers and merger control
- Introduction to Regulation and Antitrust in a global perspective
- What is different for digital markets
- Cartels
- Basic elements of the economics of law enforcement: crime, punishment and
deterrence
- Leniency policies, damages, whistleblower rewards
- Theories of harm and vertical restraints
- Vertical forclosure and other abuses of dominance
- Mergers and merger control
Books
1. “Competition Policy: Theory and Practice” by Massimo Motta
http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/economics/industrial-economics/competition-policy-theory-and-practice
2. "Exclusionary Practices,” by Calcagno Riccardo, Fumagalli Chiara and Massimo Motta, CUP 2018
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/exclusionary-practices/AC0652A15F36536280BAD10F8A2EBC25
3. "Handbook of Antitrust Economics", edited by Paolo Buccirossi https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/handbook-antitrust-economics
http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/economics/industrial-economics/competition-policy-theory-and-practice
2. "Exclusionary Practices,” by Calcagno Riccardo, Fumagalli Chiara and Massimo Motta, CUP 2018
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/exclusionary-practices/AC0652A15F36536280BAD10F8A2EBC25
3. "Handbook of Antitrust Economics", edited by Paolo Buccirossi https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/handbook-antitrust-economics
Bibliography
Additional papers and material on cases from the EU DG Comp and US DOJ will be distributed and discussed in class.
Teaching methods
Lectures in presence, possibly a lab experiment, papers and possibly case studies presented by groups
Exam Rules
The final exam is a one-and-a-half-hour written test consisting of three questions. Each question may be divided into “sub-questions”. To pass the exam, a score of 18 must be obtained in at least two questions. The final grade is the average grade of the three questions. The grading scale for each question goes from 0 to 33, so students can obtain a final grade of 30 even without answering all the questions perfectly. Attending students (min 80% presence) will give a presentation on an article or a ‘case’ during the course. The presentation will be assigned a score from 0 to +4, rounded to the nearest whole number to determine the students’ final grade. The score for the presentations is considered valid only for the first exam session after the course. It is possible to give the presentation only once (i.e., it cannot be repeated in subsequent years).
For non-attending students, in the first exam session there will be an additional question with a score between 0 and +4 on the topics of the articles or cases presented in class. The papers or cases presented in class will remain part of the program for subsequent exams sessions.
N.B. The extra points (from the presentations for attending students, and from the extra question for non-attending ones) are only valid in the first exam session. From the second session onwards the extra 4 points will not be there for anybody. It will be the standard 3-questions exam, where of course you can still reach the maximum of 30 or 30L if you do very well in all three questions. However, the student will keep the extra points, if she re-takes the exam in the same exam session, but on a different call.
For non-attending students, in the first exam session there will be an additional question with a score between 0 and +4 on the topics of the articles or cases presented in class. The papers or cases presented in class will remain part of the program for subsequent exams sessions.
N.B. The extra points (from the presentations for attending students, and from the extra question for non-attending ones) are only valid in the first exam session. From the second session onwards the extra 4 points will not be there for anybody. It will be the standard 3-questions exam, where of course you can still reach the maximum of 30 or 30L if you do very well in all three questions. However, the student will keep the extra points, if she re-takes the exam in the same exam session, but on a different call.
Attendance Rules
At least 80% presence to be considered “attending students”