Antitrust Renaissance (LAW-DS-ANTI-23)

LAW-DS-ANTI-23

Description

This seminar presents the building blocks of a forthcoming book by Professors Petit and Schrepel. The book proposes a new formula for competition law and policy.

There are today enough empirical observations showing that established models of competition policy do not apprehend the modern complexity of competition across firms, markets and industries. The lost diagnosis accuracy is a source of legal and policy error; an update in our understanding of how economic agents compete in a technology-driven environment is needed.

Grounded in empirics and in a review of the legal, economic, and technical literature on industrial change and innovation, the book proposes a “renaissance” of competition policy around several key propositions. In particular, Petit and Schrepel suggest that uncertainty, as much as rivalry, is key to competition, that innovation is an input equally important to competition as industry structure, or that firm and industry level evolution is a good metric for assessing the impact of antitrust law and policy. Finally, the seminar discusses adaptations to current antitrust institutions and procedures, and the appropriate scope of a complexity-minded antitrust policy