Every year, Global Competition Review (GCR) publishes a series of reports offering detailed information to agencies and practitioners engaged in antitrust and competition work throughout the world. The 2020 edition of the review focused on Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) includes an economics overview written by Analysis Group Vice President Joshua White, who is based in the firm’s London office.
In their article, the authors consider the use of economics and econometrics in the context of assessing antitrust damages. They focus on the recent decision by the High Court of England and Wales in BritNed Development v ABB, the first cartel follow-on damages claim to reach judgment on the merits in the UK. In this case, the claimant’s and defendant’s economic experts applied differing empirical methodologies to estimate damages: BritNed’s expert relied on regression analysis to estimate the level of the overcharge, while ABB’s expert largely avoided econometrics. In this case, the Court found the non-econometric approach more reliable, which the authors note serves to highlight the importance of ensuring that any econometric evidence is rooted in the facts and data of the case, that it is clearly set out in an intuitive fashion, and that key limitations are highlighted and addressed.
“Economics: Overview” is an extract from GCR’s Europe, Middle East and Africa Antitrust Review 2020, first published in July 2019.
Associated People
Joshua White
Mr. White is a consulting economist who specializes in applying microeconomics and sophisticated econometric modeling to complex litigation and merger-related questions, primarily in matters involving the health care, financial services, and technology industries. His work across a diverse set of engagements has encompassed simulating consumer demand and switching behavior, analyzing whether intellectual property (IP) licensing rates are FRAND-compliant, and estimating ex ante default probabilities for structured investment vehicles. He also has substantial experience developing innovative technological tools for analyzing datasets for merger and competition analyses.
Mr. White has supported both economic and scientific experts addressing competition and intellectual property (IP) issues in matters related to cutting-edge pharmaceutical products. He has supported clients in various jurisdictions and industries in follow-on cartel damages litigation, assessing overcharge, upstream and downstream pass-on, and volume effects.
Mr. White has worked in a number of international jurisdictions and has served as a testifying expert in the UK’s Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) on competition matters related to restrictive land covenants. He has also given evidence and submissions to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on behalf of clients involved in market investigations and mergers. Mr. White has supported several clients before the European Commission on cartel and merger matters and has provided support to European financial and competition regulators in coordinated conduct investigations. Mr. White has published a number of articles and regularly speaks at international competition law and policy conferences.