Competition Policy International has announced its next Webinar, featuring Professors Bajari and Abrantes-Metz on the economic and legal analysis of collusion. I’ve had a blast doing these lectures the last couple of weeks teaching Antitrust Economics 101, and will be finishing up the third lecture this week (after covering basic demand side and supply side issues in the first two weeks) with examples and applications. It really is a nice set up and a fun way to teach and I hope to do some more of it in the near future with some more advanced topics, i.e. law and economics of vertical restraints, and perhaps one lecture sessions on patent holdup and loyalty rebates/ exclusive dealing.
Here’s the course announcement for the Collusion Webinar:
This course will provide a current and concise summary of collusion, using simple economic models, case studies, and an overview of enforcement activity. The course was primarily designed for lawyers and antitrust professionals; we will address ideas at the forefront of economics in such a way that the material is clear and accessible to non-economists. Familiarity with microeconomics at the level of an introductory college level course will be presumed.
This series will be presented over CPI’s Global Learning Platform which delivers lectures globally in real time. The only technology required is a computer with a flash player and a telephone.
To register: Visit our website at https://www.competitionpolicyinternational.com/course_main.html.
The fee for all three classes, with CLE credit, is $355; without CLE credit the cost is $129. Discounts for multiple users from the same organization and courtesy admissions for competition authorities are available.
This course is approved for CLE in PA, as CPI is an Approved Provider of Distance Learning Courses in PA. Under the approved jurisdiction policy, New York attorneys may apply Pennsylvania CLE credit toward fulfilling their New York CLE requirement. For complete information regarding discounts and the availability of CLE credit in other states, special registration needs, or for any other questions, contact us at LearningCenter@competitionpolicyinternational.com.
The CPI Learning Center presents: An Economic and Legal Analysis of Collusion
Session 1: Economic and Legal Analysis of Collusion – Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 12 pm E.D.T.
Topics include: empirical regularities that have been found in known cases of collusion; an economic model of how a cartel determines output; a summary of efficiency losses from collusion; and the behavior of international cartels.
Session 2: Case Studies of Collusion – Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 12 pm E.D.T.
Topics include: Collusion in the railroad industry in the 1880’s; Bidding Behavior in Spectrum auctions used by the FCC to privatize the airwaves, including the changes made by the FCC to make tacit collusion more difficult; and two cases of bid rigging in the New York City construction industry and the Ohio School milk markets.
Session 3: Antitrust Enforcement & Screening for Collusion – June, 17, 2009 at 12 pm E.D.T.
Topics include: The use of empirical screens to detect conspiracies; a discussion, including examples, of screen use by both competition authorities and private parties; and leniency programs.
About the Instructors:
Patrick Bajari is a Professor of Economics at the University of Minnesota where he completed his PhD in 1997. Prior to his return to Minnesota, he taught in economics departments at Harvard, Stanford, Duke, and Michigan. Professor Bajari has authored 40 academic papers, many of which were published in leading economics journals. He has done research on the economics of collusion and bid rigging, the empirical analysis of auctions and public sector procurement, the economics of housing markets, and mortgage default and econometric methods for analyzing strategic interaction. Professor Bajari has served on the editorial boards of a number of leading economics journals. Currently, he is the managing editor of the International Journal of Industrial Organization and an associate editor for the Journal of Business and Economics Statistics and Quantitative Marketing and Economics.
Rosa Abrantes-Metz is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, and a principal with LECG’s antitrust and securities practices based in New York City. Prior to consulting, she was a staff economist at the Federal Trade Commission and has also taught at the University of Chicago and at Universidade Catolica Portuguesa in Lisbon, Portugal. She has published in both peer-reviewed journals as well as trade publications. Both at the FTC and as a consultant, Rosa has worked on a variety of cases including alleged conspiracies and manipulations including bid rigging and price fixing cartels, commodities and stock prices manipulations and revenues management, among others, and has co-developed several empirical screens to detect such anti-competitive behaviors. She is also a co-author of one of the most popular econometric models used by pharmaceutical industry analysts to value the R&D pipeline. Rosa received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago in 2002.
About the CPI Learning Center:
The CPI Learning Center brings together leading global scholars in the fields of competition law and economics with agency officials, practitioners, judges, and corporate counsels. The Learning Center offers a convenient and user-friendly way to acquire the latest thinking on world-wide competition policy and provides access to experts who are at the cutting edge of the field. Lectures are presented by leading professors, scholars, and practitioners of competition policy from around the world, including scholars from Harvard University, University of Chicago, University College London, Singapore University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Chinese Academy of Social Science.
Lectures are presented over CPI’s Global Learning Platform which relies on state-of-the art web technology to deliver lectures globally both in real time as well as and on-demand. CPI is an Approved Provider of Distance Learning Courses in PA. CLE credit also is available to New York attorneys for completion of CPI’s programs. Under the approved jurisdiction policy, New York attorneys may apply Pennsylvania CLE credit toward fulfilling their New York CLE requirement. CPI Learning Center also applies for CLE credit in additional states; please contact us for further information.