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‘Outcome’ Assessment: What Exactly Are We Measuring? A Personal Reflection on Measuring the Outcomes from Competition Agencies’ Interventions

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  • John Davies

Abstract

The UK and Dutch competition agencies were pioneers in Europe in publishing annual assessments of the ‘outcomes’ from their work. These countries had new competition laws to report on and a strong culture of public sector evaluation. Other countries have followed, with different approaches but enough common ground for OECD to develop a standard methodology. However, the measures are simplistic: they miss many important aspects of ‘outcomes’. I nonetheless argue that these assessments are worth carrying out but they should be recognised for what they are: a rather sophisticated measure of agency activity, rather than a simplistic assessment of outcomes.

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  • John Davies, 2018. "‘Outcome’ Assessment: What Exactly Are We Measuring? A Personal Reflection on Measuring the Outcomes from Competition Agencies’ Interventions," De Economist, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 7-22, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:decono:v:166:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10645-017-9307-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10645-017-9307-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Enrico Alemani & Caroline Klein & Isabell Koske & Cristiana Vitale & Isabelle Wanner, 2013. "New Indicators of Competition Law and Policy in 2013 for OECD and non-OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1104, OECD Publishing.
    2. Stefan Voigt, 2009. "The Effects of Competition Policy on Development - Cross-Country Evidence Using Four New Indicators," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(8), pages 1225-1248.
    3. Svetlana Avdasheva & Dina Tsytsulina & Svetlana Golovanova & Yelena Sidorova, 2015. "Discovering the Miracle of Large Numbers of Antitrust Investigations in Russia: The Role of Competition Authority Incentives," HSE Working papers WP BRP 26/PA/2015, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    4. Damien Neven & Hans Zenger, 2008. "Ex Post Evaluation of Enforcement: A Principal-Agent Perspective," De Economist, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 477-490, December.
    5. Henk Don & Ron Kemp & Jarig Sinderen, 2008. "Measuring the Economic Effects of Competition Law Enforcement," De Economist, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 341-348, December.
    6. Hüschelrath, Kai, 2008. "Is it Worth all the Trouble? The Costs and Benefits of Antitrust Enforcement," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-107, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Hüschelrath, Kai & Leheyda, Nina, 2010. "A methodology for the evaluation of competition policy," ZEW Discussion Papers 10-081, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Gregory Werden, 2008. "Assessing the Effects of Antitrust Enforcement in the United States," De Economist, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 433-451, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Competition; Evaluation; Antitrust; Impact assessment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L40 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - General
    • H83 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Public Administration

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