Effizienz als Leitbild der Wettbewerbspolitik: Für einen "more economic approach"

Die jüngsten Reformen im Europäischen Wettbewerbsrecht geben Anlaß, sich erneut mit Grundsatzfragen der Wettbewerbspolitik zu beschäftigen. Unter Rückgriff auf die moderne Wettbewerbstheorie, die Industrie- und die Neue Institutionenökonomik werden in diesem Paper die Grundlagen eines "more economic approach" entworfen. Wettbewerb wird als Parallel- und Austauschprozeß begriffen, in dem Werte (social surplus) geschaffen und angeeignet werden. Allokative, produktionstechnische und innovative Ineffizienzen sind in diesem Wettbewerbskonzept Folge einer mangelnden Aneignung von Wertschöpfung. Konkret wird in diesem Paper vorgeschlagen, daß Wettbewerbsbehörden und Gerichte in allen Verfahren gegen Unternehmen und Unternehmensgruppen einen überzeugend begründeten Effizienzeinwand als Rechtfertigung für ein in traditioneller Sicht wettbewerbsbeschränkendes Verhalten zulassen. Der Vorschlag basiert auf einer partialanalytisch interpretierten Theorie des "second-best"; bei ihr sind "second-best-tradeoffs" ausschließlich auf den relevanten Markt bezogen. Um Anschuldigungen zu entkräften, sollten die Beschuldigten zweierlei nachweisen: Erstens, das beanstandete Verhalten ist eine Reaktion auf ein identifiziertes Marktversagen oder technische oder dynamische (Neuerungen betreffende) Ineffizienz im relevanten Markt. Zweitens, das beanstandete Verhalten steigert per Saldo die Wohlfahrt. Die Kartellbehörden hätten zwei Dinge zu prüfen: Erstens, behindert das beanstandete Verhalten in wesentlicher Weise spätere private oder staatliche Versuche, die Gründe für das Marktversagen, die technische oder dynamische Ineffizienz zu beseitigen? Zweitens, gibt es weniger stark gegen die Antitrust-Gesetze verstoßende Maßnahmen zur Erreichung derselben Wohlfahrtssteigerung? Wenn die Unternehmen ihre Argumente überzeugend dargelegt und die Kartellbehörden die beiden Fragen mit nein beantwortet haben, dann sollte das Verfahren eingestellt werden. Das Paper diskutiert auch die Vor- und Nachteile eines innermarktlichen "second-best"-Ansatzes in der Wettbewerbspolitik und zeigt die Vorteile gegenüber einer Wettbewerbspolitik auf, die nur den Wettbewerb schützen will. -- Taking the fundamental and comprehensive reform of EU competition policy which embodies a shift from a formalistic regulatory approach towards a more economic approach as a point of departure, this article argues that it is time for antitrust policy to move beyond structural understandings of competition ("preserving competition") and into the realm of explicit welfare analysis. A "more economic approach" should reflect current economic thinking about competition, incentives and efficiency. Competition is defined in the paper as a process of creating and appropriating value (social surplus). Allocative, technical and innovative inefficiencies are viewed as fundamentally due to failures of capturing value. The paper argues that antitrust laws should recognize a defence for all private acts that restrain ?competition? under the traditional antitrust analysis but advance total welfare. The proposed efficiency defence is, however, limited to intramarket second-best tradeoffs, i.e. tradeoffs involving market failures in the relevant market. To rebut a finding of illegality based upon a traditional presumption of anticompetitive effects, defendants should have to establish, first, that the challenged conduct is responsive to an identifiable market failure, broadly defined as allocative, technical or innovative inefficiency in the relevant market; second, that the conduct produces a net increase in total welfare ("intramarket second-best claim"). The antitrust authorities should accept the defence if, first, the conduct will not substantially impair the ability of public or private actors subsequently to ameliorate the effects of the market failure; and if, second, there is no less restrictive alternative consistent with the antitrust laws that could achieve similar welfare gains. The paper also assesses the costs and benefits of implementing an intra-market second-best defence and argues that this approach provides better criteria for a workable antitrust policy than an antitrust standard based on protecting "competition".more economic approach,second-best tradeoff,Williamson-tradeoff,"Post Chicago" antitrust policy,efficiency defense,property rights

Do Artists Benefit from Resale Royalties? An Economic Analysis of a New EU Directive

According to a new European Union directive, artists, whose works are resold, are entitled to a share of the sales price. The principal aim of this initiative is to let the artists participate in the economic success of their work. Our analysis shows that the new directive is most likely to place the artists in a worse economic position. The analysis of the relation between the artist and his dealer as an incentive compatible contract leads to further objections against the new EU directive. However, the paper also illustrates under which conditions a resale royalty is, at least, an incentive compatible contract. --resale rights,droit de suite,Screening Skill,strategic complements

Self-interest, Social Wealth, and Competition as a Discovery Procedure

In Economics, as in any social science, empirical tests of theoretical results face a problem: researchers are unable to reproduce the whole economy (or at least its relevant parts) in their laboratories. Nowadays, Experimental Economics uses stylized experiments, drawing on the experience of Psychology, to test at least the basic assumptions of the economic theory of human behavior. Even classroom experiments may serve this purpose. This paper describes a simple classroom experiment that serves as an empirical test of Adam Smith's invisible- hand hypothesis. Furthermore, it demonstrates to the students that competition acts as a discovery procedure. The experiment is of high didactical value, since the students gain insights into empirical research and experience how markets work.Hayek-Hypothesis, Efficiency, Double Oral Auctions,

European Policymaking: An Agency-Theoretic Analysis of the Issue

In various European legal acts the Council has delegated power to the Commission to set common policy, conditional on specific procedural requirements, which are commonly known as "comitology". In this paper we analyse whether and how far these implementation procedures help to overcome a dilemma of delegation, which arises if (a) a principal and an agent have conflicting interests and (b) the principal, due to the structure of the principal-agent relationship, cannot perfectly control the agent (structure-induced agent discretion). --European Union,comitology,principal-agent-relationship,structure-induced agent discretion

Judicial Detection Skill, Litigational Opportunism, and Contractual Compliance

Mutually beneficial agreements might fail if the parties fear contractual opportunism. Litigation is supposed to prevent this, but still leaves room for litigational opportunism: Even knowing that the opponent has fulfilled his obligations, a party might bring suit. We show that with positive judicial detection skill, litigation fees can be designed to deter opportunistic suits and simultaneously induce bilateral contractual compliance. With zero detection skill, as implicitly assumed by most of the economic literature on litigation, bilateral contractual compliance cannot be induced. We apply our results to evaluate the American and the British cost allocation rules. -- Beidseitig vorteilhafte Abkommen können scheitern, wenn eine der Parteien vertraglichen Opportunismus befürchtet. Gerichtsklagen sollen diesem Problem abhelfen, eröffnen aber eine Gelegenheit für Prozeß-Opportunismus: Selbst wenn eine Vertragspartei weiß, daß die andere ihre Leistungspflicht erfüllt hat, kann sie auf Leistung klagen. Wenn Richter positive Erkenntnisfähigkeit haben, dann können Gerichtskosten so festgelegt werden, daß die Parteien von opportunistische Klagen abgeschreckt und zu vertragsgetreuem Verhalten motiviert werden. Können Richter nicht zwischen legitimen und opportunistischen Klagen unterscheiden, dann kann beideseitige Vertragseinhaltung nicht angeregt werden. Wir wenden dieses Ergebnis an, um die amerikanische und die britische Gerichtskostenregel miteinander zu vergleichen.procedural law,frivolous suits,positive detection skill,verifiability,litigation costs,American rule,British rule

The Comitology Game: European Policymaking with Parliamentary Involvement

This paper discusses institutional reforms that might strengthen the role of the European Parliament in the policymaking process of the European Union. Using simple game theory, the paper analyzes the working properties of the different implementation procedures that are known as 'comitology'. The Council of the European Union employs these procedures when it delegates some of its policymaking power to the Commission as part of Union legislation. We show how the balance of power is determined by the current comitology procedures, and how this balance would change if the role of the European Parliament were strengthened in the comitology game. -- Dieser Beitrag diskutiert institutionelle reformen, die die Rolle des Europäischen Parlaments im Entscheidungsprozeß der Europäischen Union stärken können. Mit Hilfe eines einfachen spieltheoretischen Modells wird der Wirkungsmechanismus verschiedener unter dem Stichwort Komitologie bekannter Implementationsprozeduren analysiert. Der Rat wendet diese an, wenn er im Rahmen des EU-Gesetzgebungsprozesses seine Entscheidungsgewalt zum Teil der Kommission überträgt. Wir zeigen, wie das Machtgleichgewicht durch die geltenden Komitologie-Prozeduren bestimmt wird und wie sich dieses Gleichgewicht verändern würde, wenn die Stellung des Parlamentes gestärkt würde.Strategic power index,comitology,balance of power

Imperfect Decision-Making and the Tax Payer Puzzle

Even if the expected punishment on tax evasion is negligible, empirical studies show that actual tax evasion is smaller than rational choice models predict. In addition to this, tax payer do not respond on parameter changes as predicted. Some authors tried to explain this puzzle by assuming "tax morale". Our paper models tax payers as imperfect decision-makers and explains deviations from the optimal solution by making use of a weaker assumption: The imperfect tax payer's decision to deviate from a given rule depends on their competence and on the complexity of their situation. --tax compliance,bounded rationality,imperfect decision-making,detection skill,rule-governed behavior

European Policymaking: An Agency-Theoretic Analysis of the Issue

In various European legal acts the Council has delegated power to the Commission to set common policy, conditional on specific procedural requirements, which are commonly known as "comitology". In this paper we analyse whether and how far these implementation procedures help to overcome a dilemma of delegation, which arises if (a) a principal and an agent have conflicting interests and (b) the principal, due to the structure of the principal-agent relationship, cannot perfectly control the agent (structure-induced agent discretion).

Self-interest, Social Wealth, and Competition as a Discovery Procedure : A classroom experiment that makes the "invisible hand" visible

In Economics, as in any social science, empirical tests of theoretical results face a problem: researchers are unable to reproduce the whole economy (or at least its relevant parts) in their laboratories. Nowadays, Experimental Economics uses stylized experiments, drawing on the experience of Psychology, to test at least the basic assumptions of the economic theory of human behavior. Even classroom experiments may serve this purpose. This paper describes a simple classroom experiment that serves as an empirical test of Adam Smith?s invisible- hand hypothesis. Furthermore, it demonstrates to the students that competition acts as a discovery procedure. The experiment is of high didactical value, since the students gain insights into empirical research and experience how markets work. -- Die empirische Prüfung theoretischer Forschungsergebnisse wirft in der Ökonomie - wie bei jeder Sozialwissenschaft ? Probleme auf. Anders als in den Naturwissenschaften können volkswirtschaftliche Problemstellungen kaum in Labors nachgestellt werden. Seit einigen Jahren nutzen Ökonomen allerdings die Erfahrungen der Psychologie mit stilisierten Experimenten, um zumindest ihre grundlegenden Verhaltenshypothesen testen zu können. Dieser Beitrag stellt ein einfaches Hörsaal-Experiment vor, das Adam Smiths Hypothese von der ?unsichtbaren Hand? im Marktgeschehen empirisch überprüft. Das Experiment zeigt zudem, wie Wettbewerb als Entdeckungsverfahren funktioniert, und besitzt hohen didaktischen Wert: Die Studenten erhalten Einblick in empirische Forschung und erleben hautnah das Funktionieren des Marktes.Hayek-Hypothesis,Efficiency,Double Oral Auctions

Policymaking, Comitology and the Balance of power in the European Union

Using simple game theory, this paper analyzes the working properties of the different procedures laid down in the comitology decision, i.e., the European Council's decision on procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission. Furthermore, it addresses the question of how the balance of power is determined by this decision