François Lévêque is a professor at Mines-ParisTech Université PSL, where he teaches economics. He has also taught at the University of California at Berkeley. His research work at the École des Mines focuses on economics and competition law. He founded one of the very first economics consulting firms specializing in antitrust cases.
1211
Behavioural economics and the economics of happiness have demonstrated that a consumer’s choices are biased and imperfect. It is time for antitrust authorities to consider them.* Is it not time to modernize and make more complex the competition authorities’ vision of the consumer? To follow in (...)
1099
Innovation today is shifting the established positions of a growing number of companies and industries. There is no shortage of qualifiers to underline the power of this phenomenon: drastic innovation, destabilising innovation, disruptive innovation, radical innovation, disruptive innovation. (...)
496
The growing number of challenges on energy policy that the European Union faces call for a review and an update of the current mechanisms implemented for market integration and energetic transition. A new paradigm regarding the utilisation of State aid by EU member States to serve national and (...)
2375
The law establishing a New Organisation for the Electricty Market provides for a temporary regulation which aims at removing the obstacles to the development of competition on the French electricity market. Its purpose is in particular to solve the margin squeeze resulting from the difference (...)
7645
1. The first European leniency programme introduced in 1996 was a great success. In five and a half years, 16 cartels have been defeated and more than 80 companies have sought leniency. Only three of them obtained a total reduction of fines. The new leniency policy that came into force in (...)
6285
What do an English tractor, a Parisian palace and mobile telephony have in common? For several years, the suppliers of these goods and services have exchanged information on their sales figures and have been condemned as such by the competition authorities. For the latter, the communication of (...)
5093
This articles shows how antitrust enforcement in the electricity and gas industries raises specific problems that call for specific solutions. It examines inter alia the following questions: How can the anticompetitive effects of mergers be assessed in a changing regulatory environment? Should (...)
5062
The European Commission recently issued an in-depth study on merger remedies. The study conducted an ex post evaluation of the design and implementation of 96 remedies accepted in merger cases notified between 1996 and 2000. At first glance, remedies seem very effective since 94 % of divested (...)
4656
The paper surveys econometric studies on EU merger control. It explains how to interpret the statistics they deliver on the influence of structural and political variables on merger decisions made by the European Commission. An emphasis is given on the use of econometrics based on so-called (...)
5505
The European Commission has recently opened a sector inquiry into the internal electricity market. Due to continued high concentration and sharply increasing prices, the Commission is concerned that competition could be distorted. The conclusions of the inquiry will not be known for more than a (...)
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Is the European Commission more interventionist or more stringent than the US antitrust authorities? As far as merger control is concerned, the spontaneous answer would be to say yes. The European decision in 2001 on the acquisition of Honeywell by General Electric is still in our minds. The (...)
4438
Vertical integration is usually beneficial for consumers. However, it may also raises anticompetitive effects. Therefore, the economic assessment requires an accurate balance between pro and anticompetitive effects. The paper provides an overview of the economic theory of vertical effects. It (...)
5155
Contrary to the calculation of cost for access to infrastructures, there is no generally accepted robust method to determine the price of a patent (or copyright) licence made compulsory because it is an essential facility or in case of abuse of dominant position. Through an economic analysis (...)
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