Superstar firms

Keynote by Joaquín Almunia: Is there a problem with competition?

EU competition policy has become one of the strongest antitrust enforcers around the world. What makes the system so strong and what are its weak points? What kind of regulation and competition laws are needed for Europe to remain internationally competitive in the current political and economic environment? How must competition be regulated to unleash the power of well-functioning markets to deliver goods and services that benefit society as a whole?

Dr. Joaquín Almunia is Chairman of the Board of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Honorary President of the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, and Visiting Professor at Sciences Po. He is a former member of the European Commission, where he served as Vice- President and Commissioner in charge of competition policy. He is a former member of the Spanish Government and Parliament, and a former leader of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE).

Q&A after the keynote with David Dorn, UBS Center, University of Zurich, moderated by Carolin Roth, business moderator & journalist.

Disputation: Superstar firms – more harm than good?

There is increasing evidence that, because of technological change and globalization, more and more companies nowadays have market power that they can exploit to their advantage. This raises several questions: Do these “superstar” companies undermine competition? Do they hold the wages of workers down? Do they endanger the prosperity of society? And if so, what can we do about it? Should we break the firms up into smaller companies, as many are demanding?

The guests are: Cristina Caffarra (Partner and Head of Keystone Europe), Jan Eeckhout (ICREA Professor of Economics at UPF Barcelona), Eliana Garcés (Director, Economic Policy at Meta); Moderation: Carolin Roth, business moderator & journalist.

Panel: How to save the market economy

Labor’s share of GDP has declined in industrialized countries over the past 30 years, meaning that a decreasing share of total income goes to workers while business owners receive more. While productivity has steadily increased, wages of nonsupervisory workers have stagnated and the share of start-ups in the total of all companies has steadily decreased since 1980. Does today’s market economy undermine democracy by producing increasingly unequal outcomes? Is the market economy broken? How can it be restored? What incentives, mechanisms, and regulations are needed?

The guests are: Christoph Franz (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Roche Holding), Martin Schmalz (Professor of Finance and Economics at Oxford Saïd), Isabel Martínez (ETH Zurich, KOF); Moderation: Carolin Roth, business moderator & journalist.

Zurich Lecture of Economics in Society by Eric A. Posner: The new labor antitrust and the problem of superstar firms

Recent studies show that labor markets are highly concentrated and that employers engage in practices that harm competition and suppress wages, such as no-poaching agreements, wage-fixing or mergers. Why has antitrust failed in the labor market? What are the implications of this failure for society and democracy and what strategies for judicial legislative reform are indicated?

Eric A. Posner is the Kirkland and Ellis Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Arthur and Esther Kane Research Chair at University of Chicago Law School. Since 2022, he has been counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Law Institute. His research interests include antitrust law, international law, and constitutional law. His most recent books are How Antitrust Failed Workers (2021) and The Demagogue’s Playbook (2020).

Q&A after the keynote moderated by Carolin Roth, business moderator & journalist.

CEPR and the UBS Center look forward to welcoming you at the Kongresshaus Zurich to exchange thoughts and ideas on this important topic. A livestream will be available on the UBS Center website.

Programme