UCL - Corporate Strategy and Anti-Trust

[ECON2372]

[30h] 5 credits

Teacher(s): Elisabeth Van Hecke

Language: English

Level: Second

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

Learning outcomes :
- knowledge of the goals and instruments of the European competition policy and of the potential con-flicts/complementarities with the trade policy and the industrial policy.
- Understanding the links between the economic thinking and the evolution in the implementation of compe-tition law, getting an overview of the controversies among competition economist scholars
Competences :
- skill in writing scientific essays on an economic approach to competition law
- ability to transfer economic concepts into practical application to legal cases
- ability to use theoretical economic analysis to criticise the implementation of competition law and suggest improvements

Main themes

The first part of the course analyses, in the European context, the consistency between the competition policy, the trade policy and the industrial policy, both at the theoretical and the institutional level. Potential conflicts as well as complementarities are listed and potential remedies are identified.
The second part focuses on the economic foundations of the European competition policy. For each of the three major areas (prohibition of cartels, prohibition of abuses of dominant position, control of mergers and acquisi-tions) main economic arguments supporting the need for these instruments are considered as well as the limits of the economic approach for those in charge of the implementation.
Case studies will help students to better grasp the links between theory and application and to have a feeling of the complexity of legal cases.

Content and teaching methods

Teaching method :
- Writing of essays on the economic approach of specific corporate behaviour dealt with under antitrust law such as cartels, rebates, predatory pricing, mergers and acquisitions,
- Based on these essays, organised discussion on antitrust cases and/or guidelines published by the EU, al-lowing the student to improve his ability to evaluate cases from an economic point of view, discovering how theoretical models can be applied to specific cases

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Knowledge and understanding of basic concepts in game theory (level comparable to course ECGE1225) and microeconomics applied to corporate strategies (level compara-ble to course Interdependencies and strategic behaviour)

50% based on active participation in class discussions and 50% based on written contri-butions and their oral presentation

List of relevant legal cases, documents published by the EU, web sites

M. Motta, Competition Policy : theory and practice, CUP, 2004
P. Buigues, A.Jacquemin and A. Sapir, eds., European Policies on Competition, Trade and Industry : conflicts and complementarities, Edward Elgar, 1995

100% attendance required