BruxConf2024
@BruxConf2024
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31 January 2024 | Brussels | Join us for a gathering of top regulators, judges, legislators, and academics to discuss challenges and goals.
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Luigi Zingales says that antitrust policy is linked to political choices. The “first political goal” should be to preserve our freedom – eg. our freedom to speak. "We should bring this goal into our antitrust theory and practice.
@zingales
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And that's a wrap! 40+ speakers, attendees from 30+ countries and 10+ hours of discussion moderated by the incomprable
@Caffar3Cristina
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Barry Lynn of
@openmarkets
: We need to admit that the world today is “on fire” as monopolization is threatening democracy and bringing on concentrations of capacity that can bring on conflict and war.
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Common ownership also has huge income inequality implications given the wealthiest consumers are also the largest investors,
@florianederer
says
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"Changing the language of antitrust, that is part of our core mission" -
@JusticeATR
AAG Kanter. "We can't invite the public to participate if we use language—if we use concepts the public can’t access." This doesn't mean enforcers are any less rigorous or sophisticated, he says.
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The time has arrived! We’re ready for a full day of speakers, big ideas, and conversation in Brussels!
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.
@johnnyryan
departs from prepared remarks to criticize Olivier Guersent’s contentious “side dish” comment this morning. “Despite the remarks we heard from the very top of DG Comp, we have to ensure that the next Commission doesn’t regard competition as a side dish,” Ryan says.
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After today - I’m much more optimistic on Europe/US cooperation in a way that should really serve the people,
@francesca_bria
says.
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Europe can be hyper-dependant on other nations, says
@s_yoncourtin
; competition must be at the “center of" a focus on re-industrializing the EU.
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Onto the next session!
“The Great Reordering” - What Comes after the Washington Consensus, and why Antitrust is at the Heart of it
@RanaForoohar
of
@FT
is moderating the discussion with
@chopracfpb
,
@s_yoncourtin
, and Barry Lynn of
@openmarkets
.
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@JusticeATR
AAG Kanter defends the new merger guidelines: "Our goal is not to bring courts to the guidelines. It’s to bring the guidelines to where the courts are," he says. "They’re just a representation of where the law stands today."
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Final "final" agenda for Wednesday! Follow us here, starting bright and early 8.15 am Brussels time, for all-day updates....
@Caffar3Cristina
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The financial crisis highlighted the potential shortcomings of experts,
@chopracfpb
says, “There are so many places where the apparatus has failed us.”
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Our rules of procedure are not fit for modern cases, van der Woude says.
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Concentration gave rise to an “enormous increase” in inequality in the job market,
@jan_eeckhout
says.
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Commenting on AI,
@AMundt_BKartA
says: “My fear is that this has already developed into something that we don’t see as competition … we have to be really vigorous with regard to merger control."
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"I do not think we are changing our policy. It is clear that the platforms … in many ways have acquired a lot of characteristics of what we used to call essential facilities."
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A reminder from
@dreynders
about the link between
#DMA
and personal data: “The DMA imposes extra conditions on how gatekeepers use personal data. They can’t use personal data collected for one service for other services they provide, unless the user has given consent.”
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“The [economics] profession has become very insular,” says
@TomValletti
“Do we have anything to say about power - if we don’t, why should people listen to us.”
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New US merger guidelines highlights enforcement agencies outside of traditional industrial organization thinking, including on issues like common ownership
@florianederer
says.
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Industrial “strategy” is about “what we make in the United States and how we make it” Biden administration’s
@hboushey46
says.
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The largest 1% of firms have made around half of all acquisitions, ACCC chairwoman Gina Cass-Gottlieb says of her agency's recent retrospective merger study.
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“The Challenge”
@dreynders
answers a question from
@Caffar3Cristina
on the challenges for the next EC mandate.
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The final panel is a blockbuster: Experts discuss “The European Grand Digital Regulation Project”
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"The practice of economics has become very narrow on a few models that don’t work in practice,"
@TomValletti
says.
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There has to be a “progressive understanding” of industrial policy, European Parliament member
@repasi
says.
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For the first time in decades, tech platforms not only have economic but political power.
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We cannot deal with AI with the perspective that a case will last 8 or 9 years.
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.
@EU_Competition
already has doubts about some DMA solutions that gatekeepers have proposed, says DG Comp’s platforms head Alberto Bacchiega. “We will need to take action on those relatively quickly” after the March 7 compliance deadline, he warns.
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Consumer welfare standard failed to block a rising concentration that is “threatening our freedom”
@zingales
says.
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We're onto the trade panel: I find myself trying to “build bridges” of understanding because our disciplines are siloed while everything is connected, says US Trade
@AmbassadorTai
.
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Voluntary cooperation from deal parties has diminished substantially, says Gina Cass-Gottlieb, head of Australian competition authority.
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EU court reacted to deadlocks before national courts related to exemption policy in telecoms, chemistry, other industries by taking a more liberal interpretation of Article 101, says Marc Van Der Woude. "It was applied in a more economic approach.”
@EUCourtPress
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“The
#DMA
is a typical hard and fast rule system comparable to the block exemptions in the 1980s: everything is forbidden unless explicitly authorised," says Marc Van Der Woude
@EUCourtPress
.
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No “free market” should be free of the rule of law - good law make markets work, says Marcus Smith of
@CATribunal
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In our most successful cases we have talked about “what power really looks like,” Mekki says
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FTC economist Aviv Nevo emphasizes that the key is to show a “probability” of harm, rather than focusing on certainties.
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Opening remarks from
@Capitol_Forum
executive editor,
@TeddyDowney
as he welcomed
@FTC
chair
@linakhanFTC
to today’s conversation with
@Caffar3Cristina
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@AmbassadorTai
praises South Africa for writing competition policy into constitution post-apartheid.
@CompComSA
chief economist James Hodge responds that the only way competition policy could be accepted was to incorporate other elements of inclusion and public interest.
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The day has been filled with great speakers and food, too.
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The big question in a disjointed antitrust international environment is how to consider “merger creep” across jurisdictions, says James Hodge, Chief Economist of South African Competition Commission.
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On AI: regulators need to not be passive and on the sidelines until things “really go off the rails,”
@chopracfpb
says.
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As the world started changing, economists were caught “flat-footed” because they had essentially abandoned industrial policy; best practices in the space are still emerging, says
@straightedge
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From the ongoing panel, Antitrust as Agent for Change
Watch here:
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The trade paradigm for decades was built on an “fixation” on maximizing efficiency - something that trade policy has in common with antitrust,
@AmbassadorTai
says - this has enabled a “race to the bottom,” that enables exploitation of people and the planet.
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@linakhanFTC
@linakhanFTC
highlights private equity roll ups and protecting both vulnerable consumers and workers as future priorities.
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Competition authorities have made markets fairer - but not necessarily more contestable,
@AMundt_BKartA
says.
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The EU has made a lot of progress and enacted historic legislation like the DMA,
@s_yoncourtin
says; going forward, we should consider global regulation on tech and react quickly to AI.
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Olivier Guersent on Amazon/iRobot merger: “For me, it’s a relatively classical case of self-preferencing. We had a lot of evidence and this is why we think Amazon decided not to challenge it in court."
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@Caffar3Cristina
@ViolaRoberto
“The
#DMA
is much more similar to telecoms regulation than people think, says
@ViolaRoberto
“One example is the interoperability requirement: it’s exactly the same you have in telecoms – you’re not prescriptive, there are standards.”
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Ex-post interventions are hard so that’s why we’re focused on deterrents going forward,
@RKSlaughterFTC
says.
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@chopracfpb
We have seen instances where classic tools in monetary policy fall short in combating inflation, and it begs the question of how competition, private equity ownership, and too-big-to-fail institutions impact these types of problems,
@chopracfpb
says.
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Debate rife at
#BruxConf2024
– from the role of regulators and courts to the importance of competition policy in shaping our world. Hashing out what matters in Brussels and beyond.
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“It's a mistake to just focus on the merger cases and the conduct cases,” says former
@FTC
official
@johnmarknewman
. He notes the FTC, like the CMA, has been using “the entire spectrum” of tools in its toolkit.
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Two economic incentives – automation at the expense of creating new tasks and platforms monetising data – together create the “bookmarks” around which all new tech is being developed,
@DAcemogluMIT
adds. Very simple tax policies would create better incentives, he suggests.
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"I also share the view that economics doesn't necessarily provide us with some neutral, independent analysis,"
@RKSlaughterFTC
adds
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The job of DOJ's Antitrust Division is "to enforce the law," says AAG Kanter. "We’re not pontificating. We are looking at the facts in the law."
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There are “real questions” about whether we’ve already missed a moment in tech,
@RKSlaughterFTC
says.
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We’re focused on understanding the facts as they are rather than trying to fit facts to models, Mekki says.
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@jan_eeckhout
AI could exacerbate “superstar effect” that has been on the rise for the past 4 decades -
@jan_eeckhout
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We're returning from lunch with an address from
@dreynders
. Didier is the Commissioner for Justice for the
@EU_Commission
.
Watch here:
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Words of warning from ethics & technology professor
@j2bryson
about the misunderstandings surrounding AI. The tech that emerged in the last year – that is not the only AI, she says. Every product Microsoft has is “infused with AI”, not just its partnership with OpenAI.
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“The ACCC has been advocating for change for the last three years,” to the current voluntary-based merger regime, says Gina Cass-Gottlieb
@acccgovau
. The agency is pursuing this as a policy question.
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.
@AINowInstitute
's Amba Kak: Industrial policy and regulation are both shaping innovation trajectories in ways that prioritize – or should prioritize – broader public interest over narrow commercial interests
@ambaonadventure
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"Very close links between technology regulation and the protection of personal data,” says
@dreynders
. “Data protection rules play an important role to ensure online marketplaces are fair and contestable.”
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“When we think about mergers and business conduct, we are focused on understanding the facts on the ground,” says Doha Mekki
@JusticeATR
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Discussion kicks off with state aid rules and whether there is a need for a change in the way we deal with industrial investment
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Inflation "rehabilitated" competition policy, says
@BCoeure
. "We were seen as part of the solution to bring inflation down. Well that’s over. Inflation is down," he says. "We’re not operating in a very friendly environment."
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@CATribunal
The key question about whether courts are listening is “to whom should the court listen,” Marcus Smith, president of
@CATribunal
says, pointing to a distinction between evidence to which, the court must listen, and submission … to be treated with a healthy skepticism.”
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@francesca_bria
...
@ViolaRoberto
’s AI team needs taxation specialists, social cohesion experts, economists – not just scientists.
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Closing out our final panel of the day with a great cast of speakers.
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We're breaking for lunch, but join us afterward in-person or on the livestream.
We'll be kicking off the second portion of the day with an address from Commissioner
@dreynders
.
Virtually follow along here:
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In responding to a question about US merger guidelines,
@JusticeATR
Kanter says: “We’re not regulating companies; we’re simply saying, ‘Does your merger violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act’? ... That’s how we built up the merger guidelines."
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1
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DG Connect’s DMA task force head
@FiloBXL
delves into the meaning of “compliance”: it implies that change is happening. If the status quo remains once the DMA is in full effect, perhaps we’re not seeing true compliance.
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@chopracfpb
(2/2) "We have to make sure that that excessive aggregation of data does not create an undermining of the core protections we give to people.”
@chopracfpb
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Olivier Guersent on Amazon/iRobot merger: “For me, it’s a relatively classical case of self-preferencing.” We had a lot of evidence and this is why we think Amazon decided not to challenge it in court.
0
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Bacchiega won’t give a timeline for noncompliance probes but says the European Commission “needs to be very quick” if a gatekeeper’s solution isn’t complying “with the letter and spirit of the DMA, irrespective of the way it could be applied.”
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0
1
@lutherlowe
@Caffar3Cristina
"When you talk to people throughout the country," especially law and business school students, "they understand these issues—it doesn’t require a lot of explanation," says
@JusticeATR
AAG Kanter.
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1
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@gabriel_zucman
"To make progress in regulating market power, we will have to address tax evasion"
@gabriel_zucman
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1
@AMundt_BKartA
@AMundt_BKartA
starts his intervention with the “bigger picture” – “we talk about the next economic world order” There’s a “new environment” in which competition agencies are working, he says, pointing to foreign subsidies, foreign direct investment, sustainability, DMA, AI.
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@johnmarknewman
"That sends a message," he says. Officials should keep "spending less time talking with and listening to CEOs and spending more time listening to cashiers and people who make our economy work." -
@johnmarknewman
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@Caffar3Cristina
@ViolaRoberto
When it comes to “the mechanics of the DMA, there is a limit as to how much the regulator can prescribe things. That part can only be filled by the companies themselves.”
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Asked about his vision,
@JusticeATR
says: “Enforce the law faithfully, meet the market where it is [today]”
0
1
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@AMundt_BKartA
: “With the DMA, for the first time ever, we have a smell, we get a feeling – competitors for the first time seem to believe that things are really improving, to a certain extent.”
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When it comes to argument, courts should be interventionist in articulating what is troubling it says Marcus Smith
@CATribunal
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AI is the most powerful technology we’ve ever had,
@erikbryn
. But there are uncertainties around productivity, concentration and trade offs between automation of human work and augmenting it.
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It's encouraging to hear officials such as Kanter talk about "getting out of the bubble" and speaking to people in middle America, says
@johnmarknewman
.
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Public interest does not mean state control, she adds in this context.
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@EUParl
member
@brandobenifei
agrees that some form of global AI governance is likely needed. On the other end, regulators and politicians should not focus only on the global systemic risk to the detriment of the “domestic daily risks” at the heart of the AI Act, he says.
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