European Commission Decisions on Anti-Competitive Behavior

31 Pages Posted: 5 May 2010

See all articles by Jordi Gual

Jordi Gual

University of Navarra - IESE Business School; VidaCaixa; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Núria Mas

University of Navarra - IESE Business School

Date Written: March 3, 2010

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of all the European Commission´s decisions on antitrust cases between January 1999 and February 2004. We use a unique dataset that contains information not only on the cases that were analyzed by the Commission and for which a decision was finally public, but also on all the cases that were never pursued any further or the ones for which there is no public final decision. We have two goals. First, this data allows us, for the first time in the literature, to determine whether there is any type of bias on the selection process followed by the Commission when deciding which cases to pursue until a final decision is reached. Our results show that the selection of cases is not random and that it is quite efficient. Second, we can contribute to determine whether the criteria that have been shown by the economic literature to play an important role on anti competitive behavior, are also important for the Commission´s decision on antitrust cases. Our results suggest that this is the case.

Keywords: anti-trust, competition, selection bias

Suggested Citation

Gual, Jordi and Mas, Núria, European Commission Decisions on Anti-Competitive Behavior (March 3, 2010). IESE Business School Working Paper No. 846, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1599472 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1599472

Jordi Gual (Contact Author)

University of Navarra - IESE Business School ( email )

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Barcelona, 08034
Spain
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VidaCaixa ( email )

Av Juan Gris 3-8
Barcelona, 08014
Spain

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Núria Mas

University of Navarra - IESE Business School ( email )

Avenida Pearson 21
Barcelona, 08034
Spain

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