Competition Policy RPN - The New FTC_DOJ Draft Merger Guidelines: A Discussion with Susan Athey and Aviv Nevo

On July 19th, the FTC and the DOJ have issued their long-awaited new Draft Merger Guidelines, open for comment till 18 September.  These introduce a number of changes to the existing 2010 Guidelines in the way that agencies propose to evaluate mergers, and have already caused quite a stir. Some regard them as an overdue recalibration of merger assessment away from an established “orthodoxy” perceived to reflect “Chicago principles”, others have claimed they are a step back that does not give due weight to economic learnings of the past 40 years.

On Thursday, 31 August 2023 5:30-6:30 PM (CEST), 4:30-5:30 PM (BST), 11:30 AM-12:30 PM (EST) The CEPR Competition Policy RPN organised the online Event: 

The New FTC/DOJ Draft Merger Guidelines: A Discussion with Susan Athey and Aviv Nevo

Susan Athey (Professor of Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business and Chief Economist, US DOJ Antitrust Division) and Aviv Nevo (Professor of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Director of Bureau of Economics, FTC) have been very involved in the drafting and explained the posture and the thinking. Mike Walker (Chief Economic Adviser, UK Competition and Markets Authority and Member, Competition Policy RPN) and Hans Zenger (Head of Unit, DG Competition, European Commission) compared notes and discussed the implications of this new document for enforcement across the globe.

Introduced and Chaired by Cristina Caffarra (Co-Founder and Steering Committee Vice-Chair, Competition Policy RPN) and Tommaso Valletti (Professor of Economics, Imperial College London, Research Fellow, CEPR and Leader, Competition Policy RPN).