Theories of Network Evolution and Competition Policy

This book examines and compares the evolution of competition policy networks in the EU and US as a means of assessing their efficacy and adaptability to one another and as a model for other countries.

The EU and US approaches to antitrust are similar to the extent that they are federal in structure and are decentralised, yet they also differ, particularly in terms of their control of state regulation. The comparison undertaken here allows analysis of whether different approaches to the regulation of antitrust federalism should be maintained or whether it is possible to suggest one approach for both systems, and thus whether there is a possibility for global harmonisation in this area of competition law. The book employs a two-stranded approach combining historical study and legal analysis. This reveals the different evolutionary stages of the two visions of antitrust federalism with corresponding competitive and political dynamics. Examples are provided of what can be considered more effective practice and the failure of the competing network to adopt that practice. It is argued that finding normative solutions is insufficient of itself as it is necessary to understand the path dependence and path creation aspects of the antitrust networks, and how learning occurs in those networks, before better practice can migrate from one system to another and inform regulatory practice more generally.

The book will be of interest to academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the areas of Competition Law and Policy, Comparative Law, Legal Theory and Law and Economics.