The role of economic analysis in antitrust investigations

This article proposes a conceptual and applied approach to the role of economic analysis in the investigation of antitrust violations, given its growing importance in the specialized literature and in decision-making practice. This conceptual perspective is used both to delimit the standards of proof and to understand how different types of anticompetitive conduct are examined. Next, the research leverages the methodology developed by Katsoulacos and his collaborators, which empirically assesses the level of granularity of decisional reasoning through the staged distinction between: analysis of the nature of the conduct, market contextualization, evaluation of the mechanism affecting competition, examination of consumer harm, and efficiency analysis. The article starts from the theoretical debates in the international literature dedicated to the evaluation of the use of economic analysis in the application of competition rules. Based on these contributions, the article focuses on the side with the greatest practical relevance: the identification and presentation of the main economic tools used in the investigation of infringements of competition rules and in data-based screening activities. Tools such as basic structural indicators – market shares, the Herfindahl-Hirschman index, concentration indicators, the Lerner index, price correlations, the hypothetical monopolist test, the critical loss analysis, the equally efficient competitor test, as well as methods of time series analysis, outlier detection, principal component analysis, clustering techniques or network analysis are analyzed, for illustrative purposes. As an exploratory measure, the article also considers the decision-making practice of the Competition Council, in order to observe the extent to which the use of economic analysis in national competition law reflects the trends developed in the practice of the European Commission and other competition authorities.