News

The work and analyses produced by E.CA is widely recognised and discussed by renowned newspapers and broadcasters. Please scroll through the following list to explore recent coverage and relevant firm news.

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16.12.2014
New publication on rivalry in a duopoly

E.CA staff member Juri Demuth has published a paper on signalling rivalry in a duopoly, jointly with Helmut Bester (Freie Universität Berlin) in the Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade. When a new competitor with a publicly unknown quality enters a market, the prices of both the incumbent and the entrant might be informative of the entrant’s quality. In the paper it is shown that under the chosen belief refinements prices signal the entrant’s quality only in a two-sided separating equilibrium and are identical to the full information outcome.

The paper is available here.

11.12.2014
New publication on price concentration studies on European mobile telecom markets

Rainer Nitsche published an article together with Pauline Affeldt analyzing the relationship between prices and concentration in European mobile telecom markets.

The paper is available here.

21.11.2014
New publication on upward pricing pressure analysis in the Journal of European Competition Law and Practice

Rainer Nitsche and Lars Wiethaus published an article on the application of upward pricing pressure analysis in the Journal of European Competition Law and Practice. The authors draw from their experience in the European Commission’s practice in recent mobile telecoms mergers.

The article is available here.

10.11.2014
E.CA report on cross-country price comparisons in retail grocery

This brief focusses on the methodological issue of the proper measurement of retail food prices. While measuring the prices of individual products seems preferential from a methodological point of view, the discussion often evolves to cover much broader categories such as “food products” in general, which necessarily involves some aggregation of the underlying disaggregated raw data. A trade-off then arises between using a narrow but accurate or a broader but imprecise measure. The available empirical price data are interpreted in light of these conceptual limitations.

Read the report here.

16.10.2014
Vincent Verouden, former Deputy Chief Economist, joins E.CA

Dr Vincent Verouden, a Dutch national and until recently the Deputy Chief Economist at DG Competition at the European Commission, is joining E.CA’s Brussels office as a director. With more than 15 years of experience at DG Competition and a deep insight and knowledge of all competition matters, his move to E.CA will strengthen E.CA’s position in the Benelux and European markets.

Link to press release (EN/DE/NL)

18.07.2014
New E.CA study on the methodology for assessing overcompensation of public services in the German bus sector.

The study on behalf of DB Regio AG (Sparte Bus) identifies aspects which can determine the level of the appropriate return for bus companies receiving public service compensation. Furthermore, the study estimates the appropriate return levels on the basis of publicly available revenue data for the bus sector.

Read the study here.

01.07.2014
The distribution of partnership returns: Evidence from co-authorships in economics journals
Thomas Hildebrand and Francis Bidault published a study in the Journal of Research Policy of July 2014. The distribution of partnership returns: Evidence from co-authorships in economics journals. The study focusses on duos of co-authors in economics with asymetric background.

View the external abastract here.

05.06.2014
Commission approves acquisition of Cemex West by Holcim in the building materials sector

After an in-depth investigation over concerns that the proposed transaction could substantially lessen competition by removing Cemex West as an actual or potential competitor in parts of Germany and in Belgium, the transaction was finally approved without remedies. E.CA Economics supported the parties in this matter.

Download press release.

02.06.2014
UK synthetic rubber cartel case closed with settlement

Hans W. Friederiszick acted as an economic expert in the UK proceedings regarding private damages claims related to the EU synthetic rubber cartel case. He acted for a claimants group of leading European tyre manufactures and was supported by economists from E.CA Economics and Bates White Economic Consulting. The case was recently closed by settlement. The terms and conditions of the settlement are confidential.

22.04.2014
German Court awards FLUXX 11.5 Mio Euro damages plus interests

The Mybet subsidiary FLUXX, then operating under the name Jaxx, had invented a new business model to distribute lottery tips. FLUXX planned to collect lottery tips at supermarkets, and to convey these to the state lottery companies. The state lottery companies, however, coordinated to refuse such orders collected by commercial agents.

After the Highest German Court (BGH) considered the boycott as illegal cartel infringement in 2008, FLUXX, supported by the law firm Redeker Sellner Dahs and E.CA Economics claimed damages for being excluded from the market. In a judgement by the OLG Düsseldorf dated April 9, 2014, a compensation of 11,5 Mio EUR plus interests was awarded to FLUXX. While an appeal on points of law is excluded the parties still can appeal against denial of leave to appeal.

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