CEPR Competition Policy RPN & LBS Hybrid Workshop: Beyond Leveraging: Ecosystem Theories of Harm in Digital Mergers

The CEPR Competition Policy RPN and the London Business School (LBS) organised an Hybrid Workshop on Beyond Leveraging: Ecosystem Theories of Harm in Digital Mergers on Thursday, 14 September 2023, from 12:30-05:30 PM (UK) - 01:30-06:30 PM (CEST) at LBS in London. 

The Event Programme including speakers' slides is available on the top of this page. 

Digital mergers have increasingly led antitrust agencies to try and articulate “ecosystem theories of harm” going beyond traditional leveraging. The question is how the acquisition of a new asset may increase the power of conglomerate companies already controlling a range of assets and capabilities. The traditional agency / IO approach has been to pursue a “leveraging” story from market A to market B. This does not work for nascent markets, and it is not the story we really have in mind. How do we articulate in a more systematic way when concerns can arise? Can network economics help the IO approach? We will discuss how IO theory and practice can be enriched by other perspectives to develop more concrete predictions. 

Events Organisers

Cristina Caffarra (Steering Committee Vice-Chair and Associate Fellow, Competition Policy RPN) and Tommaso Valletti (Professor of Economics, Imperial College London, Research Fellow, CEPR & Leader, Competition Policy RPN)

Speakers

Luis Cabral (Professor of Economics and International Business, New York University, Fellow, CEPR & Member, Competition Policy RPN), joining online

Cristina Caffarra (Steering Committee Vice-Chair and Associate Fellow, Competition Policy RPN)

Daniele Condorelli (Professor of Economics, University of Warwick) 

Tomaso Duso (Head, Firms and Markets Department at DIW Berlin, Professor of Empirical Industrial Economics, TU Berlin, Fellow, CEPR & Steering Committee Member, Competition Policy RPN), joining online

Luise Eisfeld (Assistant Professor of Finance, HEC Lausanne)

Matt Elliott (Professor of Economics, Cambridge University) 

Daniel Ershov (Assistant Professor, UCL School of Management.& Affiliate, CEPR) 

Chiara Farronato (Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School & Affiliate, CEPR), joining online

Andrea Galeotti (Professor of Economics, London Business School) 

Reinhold Kesler (Senior Research Associate, University of Zurich), joining online

Igor Letina (Associate Professor, University of Bern & Affiliate, CEPR) 

Martin Peitz (Professor of Economics, University of Mannheim, Director, MaCCI, Fellow, CEPR & Member, Competition Policy RPN), joining online

Bruno Pellegrino (Assistant Professor of Finance, Columbia Business School)

Patrick Rey (Professor of Economics, University of Toulouse, Fellow CEPR & Member, Competition Policy RPN), joining online 

Regina Seibel (Assistant Professor of Economics Analysis and Policy, University of Toronto), joining online 

Shiva Shekhar (Assistant Professor, Tilburg School of Economics and Management), joining online 

Tommaso Valletti (Professor of Economics, Imperial College London, Research Fellow, CEPR & Leader, Competition Policy RPN)

Mike Walker (Chief Economic Adviser, Competition and Markets Authority & Member, Competition Policy RPN)

Hans Zenger (Head of Unit, Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission)