The European Union often uses its antitrust powers to protect EU-based firms from international competition, rather than to promote greater competition in European markets.
Responses
© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
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25%
17%
4%
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Responses weighted by each expert's confidence
© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
32%
43%
16%
9%
0%
Participant |
University |
Vote |
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Bio/Vote History |
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 Philippe Aghion |
Harvard | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Franklin Allen |
Imperial College London | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I would say the evidence is mixed and I do not enough about it to draw a reasonable conclusion.
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 Pol Antras |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Agnès Bénassy-Quéré |
Paris School of Economics | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Many European firms have been targeted.
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 Timothy J. Besley |
LSE | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Olivier Blanchard |
Peterson Institute | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Nicholas Bloom |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Richard William Blundell |
University College London | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Elena Carletti |
Bocconi | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Jean-Pierre Danthine |
Paris School of Economics | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Paul De Grauwe |
LSE | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Jan Eeckhout |
UPF Barcelona | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Ernst Fehr |
Universität Zurich | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Xavier Freixas |
Barcelona GSE | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln |
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Jordi Galí |
Barcelona GSE | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Luis Garicano |
LSE | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Francesco Giavazzi |
Bocconi | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I'd like to see clear evidence for this statement, which I currently do not see
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 Rachel Griffith |
University of Manchester | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Veronica Guerrieri |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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This is a weak "agree". I think sometimes it does, but sometimes it does not. "Often" sounds a bit too strong to me.
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 Luigi Guiso |
Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Patrick Honohan |
Trinity College Dublin | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Henrik Kleven |
Princeton | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Botond Kőszegi |
Central European University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Jan Pieter Krahnen |
Goethe University Frankfurt | Bio/Vote History | ||
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A generalized answer to this question needs to be specify a particular industry. In banking I do not agree, in others I don't know enough.
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 Per Krusell |
Stockholm University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I don’t know.
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 Eliana La Ferrara |
Harvard Kennedy | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Christian Leuz |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Little hard evidence to support protectionism for mergers or fines. Could be in other areas&we lack similar EU tech firms as counterfactuals
-see background information here -see background information here -see background information here |
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 Costas Meghir |
Yale | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Peter Neary |
Oxford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Given the size of the European market, favouring EU-based firms need not be so costly, provided a robust approach is taken to market abuse.
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 Kevin O'Rourke |
Oxford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Marco Pagano |
Università di Napoli Federico II | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Lubos Pastor |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Torsten Persson |
Stockholm University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Christopher Pissarides |
London School of Economics and Political Science | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Richard Portes |
London Business School | Bio/Vote History | ||
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European competition policy focuses on market power (unlike US). No evidence of protectionist motives, quite the contrary.
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 Canice Prendergast |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Lucrezia Reichlin |
London Business School | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Rafael Repullo |
CEMFI | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Hélène Rey |
London Business School | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Cases against tech giants have been very visible . Does not mean bias. DG comp has a very good record over the years.
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 Antoinette Schoar |
MIT | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 John Van Reenen |
LSE | Bio/Vote History | ||
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EU anti-trust policy similar to US, but enforced more vigorously
-see background information here -see background information here |
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 John Vickers |
Oxford | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Hans-Joachim Voth |
University of Zurich | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Beatrice Weder di Mauro |
The Graduate Institute, Geneva | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Karl Whelan |
University College Dublin | Bio/Vote History | ||
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This is not my area of academic expertise but this is not my impression of how antitrust rules have operated in the EU.
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 Charles Wyplosz |
The Graduate Institute Geneva | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Anti-trust is pro-competition but its use can be distorted for protectionist aims.
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 Fabrizio Zilibotti |
Yale University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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