Publications in: Competition Economics

An Assessment of the UK Discretionary Penalties Regime

Published: October, 2009

In this published report by the OFT, London Economics studies the efficacy of the UK discretionary penalty regime. The study benchmarks the OFT regime against other main jurisdictions and frames it within the theoretical debate on the determinants of an ‘optimal’ penalties regime. The report informs this question by analysing the academic literature and providing […]

The Effectiveness of Competition Policy and the Price-Cost Margin: New Econometric Evidence

Published: December, 2008

This paper presents new econometric evidence suggesting that effective competition policy serves to curtail the exercise of market power – countries in which competition policy is judged to be more effective are characterised by lower market price-cost margins, controlling for other factors believed to influence the price-cost margin.

The Effectiveness of Competition Policy and the Price-Cost Margin: New Econometric Evidence

Published: October, 2008

McCloughan, P., Lyons, S. and Holmes-Batt, W.

Exclusive Contracts: Theory and Practice

Published: May, 2008

Exclusive contracts between two parties may be of concern for competition policy as they can be used to restrict the extent of competition in markets. In this note we briefly review the economic literature on the various effects of exclusive contracts and also illustrate with a real-world example how the relevant theory can be applied […]

Modelling EU Electricity Market Competition Using the Residual Supply Index

Published: May, 2008

This LE Working Paper reports on research undertaken by LE and others for the European Commission inquiry into the state of competition in the EU’s electricity markets. It also presents new analysis on the economic foundations of the Residual Supply Index as a market structure variable.  From 2005 to 2007

An Extract from The Handbook of Competition Economics 2008

Published: 2008

Maier, N. A Global Competition Review special report – Hungary, 2008.

Increasing Early Settlement Charges for Personal Loans by OTP-Bank Hungary – Abuse of Dominant Position or a Rational Business Response to a Demand Shock

Published: November, 2007

5th Annual Conference of the Association of Competition Economists (ACE), Toulouse, November 2007.

The Effectiveness of Competition Policy and the Price-Cost Margin: Evidence from Panel Data

Published: September, 2007

ESRI Working Paper No. 209,  McCloughan, P., Lyons, S. and Holmes-Batt.

Structure and Performance of Six European Wholesale Electricity Markets in 2003, 2004, and 2005

Published: February, 2007

The report provides an in-depth assessment of the electricity wholesale markets in Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands and Great Britain with a view to determining how competitive markets were in 2003, 2004 and 2005. The report provides summary key results for traditional market structural indicators, electricity-specific measures of market structure and market outcome measures. […]