IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/103704.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Legal standards and economic analysis in antitrust enforcement: an empirical investigation for the case of Greece

Author

Listed:
  • Benetatou, Kelly
  • Katsoulacos, Yannis

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explain the choice of legal standards of the Hellenic Competition Authority (HCC) concerning antitrust enforcement and the impact of this on the judicial review of the decisions reached. This paper is based on the methodology presented in a paper by Katsoulacos Y., S. Avdasheva, and S. Golovaneva (2019), which measures empirically the extent of economic analysis used and the legal standards (LSs) adopted by Competition Authorities (CAs). The methodology is applied to the appealed investigations of the HCC. In contrast to the theoretical analyses, systematic empirical assessments of LSs have been very limited. There are case studies based on particular decisions or meta-analysis of a group of decisions, but there is no statistical representation of the legal standards applied by competition authorities. The absence of empirical measurement and statistics on legal standards limits our ability to answer important questions. Thus, it makes any international comparisons of LSs applied in different jurisdictions and judgments on the role of economic analysis speculative. Further, it impedes the analysis of the evolution of LSs over time and explaining the factors that drive this evolution. Both issues are important for the identification of the deviation of legal standards actually applied in competition cases from their optimal level. For the purposes of this paper we collected and analysed a dataset of antitrust infringement decisions reached by the HCC, between 1997-2017, which were appealed to Courts for annulment. Our main objectives have been to use this dataset to examine to what extent economic analysis and evidence is used in the decisions of the HCC and how it evolves over time. Also, we examine how changes in the extent of economic analysis or variations in LSs, for any given conduct, is related to (how it affects) the probability that decisions on that conduct are annulled in appellate courts, as well as the effect of movements in LSs – from per se toward effects-based – on litigation costs and the duration of litigation. We show that on average, economic analysis still plays a very modest role in the investigations, as HCC applies close to per se legal standards even when assessing conducts for which effects-based LSs would be more suitable. There is no discernible evolution toward a more effect-based approach during the period 1995-2017. Further, the choice of LSs for specific conducts can create considerable legal uncertainty for firms about how these conducts will be assessed by the HCC. Overall, our empirical findings indicate low quality of enforcement. Our results are consistent with recent arguments, according to which, the higher disputability of decisions as a result of increasing the extent of economic analysis under effects-based LSs, increases the annulment rates of decisions under appeal.

Suggested Citation

  • Benetatou, Kelly & Katsoulacos, Yannis, 2020. "Legal standards and economic analysis in antitrust enforcement: an empirical investigation for the case of Greece," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103704, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:103704
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/103704/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hans-Jörg Trenz & Pieter de Wilde, 2009. "Denouncing European Integration. Euroscepticism as reactive identity formation," ARENA Working Papers 9, ARENA.
    2. Pagoulatos, George, 2018. "Greece after the bailouts: assessment of a qualified failure," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 91957, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Hans-Jörg Trenz & Pieter de Wilde, 2009. "Denouncing European integration: Euroscepticism as reactive identity formation," RECON Online Working Papers Series 10, RECON.
    4. George Pagoulatos, 2018. "Greece after the Bailouts: Assessment of a Qualified Failure," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 130, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    5. Theodore Tsekeris, 2017. "Network analysis of inter-sectoral relationships and key sectors in the Greek economy," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 12(2), pages 413-435, July.
    6. Michael Mitsopoulos & Theodore Pelagidis, 2011. "Understanding the Crisis in Greece," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-29475-2, December.
    7. Michael Mitsopoulos & Theodore Pelagidis, 2011. "Understanding the Greek Crisis," World Economics, World Economics, 1 Ivory Square, Plantation Wharf, London, United Kingdom, SW11 3UE, vol. 12(1), pages 177-192, January.
    8. Sofia Vasilopoulou & Daphne Halikiopoulou & Theofanis Exadaktylos, 2014. "Greece in Crisis: Austerity, Populism and the Politics of Blame," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 388-402, March.
    9. Andreas Koulouris & Ioannis Katerelos & Theodore Tsekeris, 2013. "Multi-Equilibria Regulation Agent-Based Model of Opinion Dynamics in Social Networks," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 11(1), pages 51-70.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chisiridis, Konstantinos & Mouratidis, Kostas & Panagiotidis, Theodore, 2022. "The north-south divide, the euro and the world," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Persefoni Zeri & Charalambos Tsekeris & Theodore Tsekeris, 2019. "The social power dynamics of post-truth politics: How the Greek youth perceives the “powerful” foreigners and constructs the image of the European partners," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 142, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    2. Dionysios Tsirigotis, 2019. "The Greek puzzle: A socio-political analysis of the current Greek crisis," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 148-167, June.
    3. Christian Daude, 2016. "Structural reforms to boost inclusive growth in Greece," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1298, OECD Publishing.
    4. Dimitrios P. Louzis & Angelos T. Vouldis, 2015. "Profitability in the Greek Banking System: a Dual Investigation of Net Interest and Non-Interest Income," Working Papers 191, Bank of Greece.
    5. Astrid KRENZ, 2014. "Services Sectors’ Concentration And Countries’ Specialization Patterns In The European Union: A Comparative Analysis With A Special Focus On France, Germany, Greece, And The Uk," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 14(1), pages 23-32.
    6. Farkas, Beáta, 2012. "The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis in the Old and New Cohesion Member States of the European Union," Public Finance Quarterly, Corvinus University of Budapest, vol. 57(1), pages 53-70.
    7. Gylfi Zoega, 2019. "Greece and the Western Financial Crisis," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 47(2), pages 113-126, June.
    8. Giancarlo Corsetti & Aitor Erce & Timothy Uy, 2020. "Official sector lending during the euro area crisis," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 667-705, July.
    9. Desli, Evangelia & Pelagidis, Theodore, 2012. "Greece's Sudden Faltering Economy: From Boom to Bust With special reference to the debt problem," MPRA Paper 106955, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Alice O. Nakamura & Leonard I. Nakamura & Masao Nakamura, 2012. "Building the Innovation Union: Lessons from the 2008 Financial Crisis," Working Papers 12-17, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    11. Constantin Manolache, 2019. "Europe: Multinational Federal State," Anuarul Universitatii „Petre Andrei” din Iasi / Year-Book „Petre Andrei” University from Iasi, Fascicula: Drept, Stiinte Economice, Stiinte Politice / Fascicle: Law, Economic Sciences, Political Scien, Editura Lumen, Department of Economics, vol. 24, pages 107-135, December.
    12. Giorgos Argitis & Stella Michopoulou, 2013. "Studies in Financial Systems No 4 Financialization and the Greek Financial System," FESSUD studies fstudy04, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.
    13. Rebekka Christopoulou & Vassilis Monastiriotis, 2016. "Public-private wage duality during the Greek crisis," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 68(1), pages 174-196.
    14. Laliotis, Ioannis, 2019. "Did the economic adjustment programmes deliver wage flexibility in Greece?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102653, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. George Gerapetritis, 2014. "Europe’s new deal: a new version of an expiring deal," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 91-115, August.
    16. Liagouras, George, 2018. "On the Edge of the South European Model: Familism, Business and State in Greece," OSF Preprints 8eqmb, Center for Open Science.
    17. Christos J. Paraskevopoulos, 2017. "Varieties of capitalism, quality of government, and policy conditionality in Southern Europe:Greece and Portugal in comparative perspective," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 117, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    18. Markantonatou, Maria, 2013. "Diagnosis, treatment, and effects of the crisis in Greece: A 'special case' or a 'test case'?," MPIfG Discussion Paper 13/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    19. Konstantinos Mavrigiannakis & Andreas Vasilatos & Eugenia Vella, 2023. "Fiscal Tightening and Skills Mismatch," DEOS Working Papers 2313, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    20. Nikitas Konstantinidis & Yannis Karagiannis, 2020. "Intrinsic vs. extrinsic incentives for reform: An informational mechanism of E(M)U conditionality," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 601-632, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    competition policy; legal standards; Greece;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F3 - International Economics - - International Finance
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • N0 - Economic History - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:103704. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.