Google's Anti-competitive and Unfair Practices in Digital Leisure Markets

The purpose of this article is to reflect on the critical use of commitments in the Google case and to analyse and review the matrix of facts that have been highlighted in the academic and practitioner literature. Therefore, the core areas of reflection in this contribution are: relevant markets; barriers to entry; network and lock-in effects; dominance; and, potential anticompetitive, as well as unfair practices as regards commercial advertisements. The analysis of the online search-engine market is complemented by the comparative insights offered by the US class action against Google’s Android mobile applications. In the EU, a similar trend is noticeable in the complaining tone of Google’s competitors. When this is coupled with the transitional period of the mandate of the newly appointed Commissioner for Competition and the political sensitivity over the potential to misuse search-engine users’ personal data to serve commercial purposes, such as boosting its advertising revenues, the giant Google swims in uncertain waters

Impact of Economic Efficiency on Employment: A Case Study of Mergers and Acquisitions

The paper challenges the present rhetoric used by competition policy makers and enforcers when advancing economic efficiency based on the assumption that promoting efficiency will help inefficient market players to leave the market. However, an exit of larger or smaller businesses is always associated with their downsizing or restructuring and, as a result, with job losses. The dogmatic application of competition policy serving economic calculus, rather than the social order, disregards the negative impact of competition on wages and employment. Revisiting the classical price and wage efficiency theoretic assumptions, the paper challenges the use of the efficiency benchmark at micro- (industrial organization) and macroeconomic levels. The case study of mergers & acquisitions (M&A) across several sectors of the economy will be used to demonstrate how internal growth and merger-specific efficiencies (some of which include the elimination of labour costs) impact wage efficiency and employment. While 6.5% of 3.7 million jobs losses as a result of M&A activity during a five year period does not seem to create a major macroeconomic imbalance, a closer look at recent M&A trends during 2013-2016 demonstrates that, indeed, jobs losses far outweigh the balance of job creation. Finally, the paper seeks to challenge the assumption that ‘new jobs replace old jobs’ following a successful merger. This is at odds with the fact that the majority of EU mergers are approved, even if subject to conditions, leaving an insignificant percentage of mergers blocked since 1990 (24 or 0.3%)

A Legal-Historical Review of the EU Competition Rules

This article aims to review EU competition rules by undertaking a historical purposive interpretation of the drafting process of the Treaty of Rome. It reveals new insights based on a consideration of several historical archives starting with the Schuman plan, the Founding Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community and the negotiations of the Treaty of Rome. Questions of contemporary relevance are explored, relating to the goals of competition law, the historical distinction between ‘object’ and ‘effect’ under Article 101 TFEU, the possibility of an enforcement gap under Article 102 TFEU, the relationship between unfair competition and the prohibition of discrimination and, finally, the broader meaning of competitive distortions

Anti-crisis Politics Assumed by Some Governs from Euro Area

Many governments from euro area continue to adopt the EU reglementations and policies anti crisis. Members of governments and parliaments of the euro area try to maintain liquidity in the economic system at this fragile moment of transition between crisis and growth and to develop exit strategies for winding down stimulus programmers once recovery has firmly taken root and to adopt medium-term measures to restore budgetary level. In this work are presented some of the most significant anti-crisis measures taken by some governments in the euro area. A comparative analysis for some representative countries from the euro area has been done in order to conclude that some anti-crisis measures had the desired effect, while others have side effects that required further actions

Using feldspathic ceramic masses in frontal group restorations

Scop: Scopul acestui studiu a fost de a alege și aplica metoda cea mai optimă de tratament a pacienţilor cu dereglări estetice a grupului frontal de dinţi. Materiale și metode: În studiu au participat 15 pacienţi, dintre care 8 pacienţi de sex F și 7 de sex M , ulterior ei au fost divizaţi în două loturi: — în primul lot au fost incluși 10 pacienţi trataţi cu microproteze fixe (coroane) integral ceramice, în cel de al doilea grup au fost incluși 5 pacienţi trataţi cu ajutorul vinirilor feldspatice. Microprotezele au fost prelucrate cu acid ortofosforic 38% și fixate cu ciment adeziv. Evaluarea clinică a restaurărilor s-a realizat la momentul iniţial și după 3,6 ,12 luni de la tratament. Au fost analizate următoarele criterii: integritatea marginală, sensibilitatea dinţilor, fracturile restaurărilor. Rezultate: Reabilitările funcţionale și estetice au fost realizate cu ajutorul a microprotezelor fixe integral ceramice și vinirelor feldspatice. Integritatea marginală a fost păstrată la pacienţii cu ambele tipuri de restaurări. Pe parcursul timpului evaluat ţesuturile moi nu au prezentat nici o modificare. Apariţia cariilor nu a fost observată, precum și nici o modificare patologică periapicală si nici o sensibilitate. La un pacient tratat cu vinire feldspatice, unghiul incizal distal a fost fracturat. Nu s-au observat modificări semnificative între cele două grupuri de studiu. Concluzie: Satisfacţia pacientului și o bună integrare a restaurărilor indirecte au confirmat succesul acestei reabilitari. Cimentarea în limitele smalţului e mai rezistentă la fracturare decît cimentarea în limitele dentinei. Ambele tipuri de restaurări posedă o capacitate de durabilitate în timp.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to choose and apply optimal method of the treatment in patients with esthetic disorders. Materials and Methods: 15 patients were examined and treated, 8 of them were males and 7 — females. These patients were divided into two groups: — the first group included 10 patients treated with full ceramic crowns, and second group included 5 patients treated by feldspathic veneers. All restorations were etched, silanized and adhesively luted using a self-etching, dual-cure, fluoride-releasing cement. Clinical evaluation of the restorations was performed at baseline and 3,6,12 months after luting, where were analyzed following criteria: marginal integrity, sensitivity of teeth, fractures restorations. Results: Functional and aesthetic rehabilitation were achieved using a full ceramic crowns and feldspathic veneers. Marginal integrity has been preserved in patients with both types of restorations. During evaluated time soft tissues didn’t present any changes. No caries recurrence, no periapical pathology, no sensitivity were observed. In a patient with feldspathic veneers restoration, distal incisal angle was fractured. No significant changes were observed between these two groups of study. Conclusion: The patient satisfaction and good integration of indirect restorations confirmed the success of this rehabilitation. Luting ceramic to enamel provided higher fracture resistance than luting to dentin. Both, and porcelain veneers, and dental crowns are lifelong commitment

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities(.)(1,2) This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity(3-6). Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55% of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017-and more than 80% in some low- and middle-income regions-was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing-and in some countries reversal-of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories.Peer reviewe