{"title":"Economic analysis and competition policy practice: A comparative empirical examination","authors":"Svetlana Golovanova , Eduardo Pontual Ribeiro , Svetlana Avdasheva","doi":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101245","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper contributes to empirical studies of competition policy enforcement. The study applies an empirical approach to measure the extent of economic analysis (legal standard) applied by competition authorities in antitrust cases by leading developing countries, namely, Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa (4 out of 5 BRICS countries). Using antitrust case-by-case information we explore the level, dynamics, and convergence of legal standards in antitrust investigations. The results indicate that the countries differ in the legal standard used, even on the same conduct type under investigation. On average, competition authorities in Brazil and India apply higher legal standards than those in Russia and South Africa. The ranking of legal standards by conduct groups differs as well, with vertical agreements and abuse of dominance cases having the highest levels. There is no evidence of an increasing trend or convergence in the legal standard in antitrust investigations, either between cases of the same conduct group or between countries investigated. This study also does not find unambiguous evidence on the effect of resources (funding and staff) on legal standards or on the consistency of case-specific analysis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51505,"journal":{"name":"Economic Systems","volume":"49 1","pages":"Article 101245"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Economic Systems","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939362524000670","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper contributes to empirical studies of competition policy enforcement. The study applies an empirical approach to measure the extent of economic analysis (legal standard) applied by competition authorities in antitrust cases by leading developing countries, namely, Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa (4 out of 5 BRICS countries). Using antitrust case-by-case information we explore the level, dynamics, and convergence of legal standards in antitrust investigations. The results indicate that the countries differ in the legal standard used, even on the same conduct type under investigation. On average, competition authorities in Brazil and India apply higher legal standards than those in Russia and South Africa. The ranking of legal standards by conduct groups differs as well, with vertical agreements and abuse of dominance cases having the highest levels. There is no evidence of an increasing trend or convergence in the legal standard in antitrust investigations, either between cases of the same conduct group or between countries investigated. This study also does not find unambiguous evidence on the effect of resources (funding and staff) on legal standards or on the consistency of case-specific analysis.
期刊介绍:
Economic Systems is a refereed journal for the analysis of causes and consequences of the significant institutional variety prevailing among developed, developing, and emerging economies, as well as attempts at and proposals for their reform. The journal is open to micro and macro contributions, theoretical as well as empirical, the latter to analyze related topics against the background of country or region-specific experiences. In this respect, Economic Systems retains its long standing interest in the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe and other former transition economies, but also encourages contributions that cover any part of the world, including Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, or Africa.