Cristina Caffarra
Dr. Cristina Caffarra is a competition economist who has worked as an expert witness and consultant in Europe for 25 years. She led European Competition at CRA between 2006 and 2022, with a team of over 100 economists, and then founded the European practice of Keystone in July 2022. She has directed economic analyses in competition investigations on landmark merger and conduct matters before the EC and the competition agencies of the U.K., multiple Member States, and beyond (from the U.S. to Africa, South East Asia, Russia, and Australia). She has provided expert economic evidence in multiple litigated cases before the courts (from the General Court in Luxembourg to the High Court and the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London, and many more). Dr. Caffarra is a recognized contributor to the global discussion on regulation of the digital economy, advising both companies and government agencies, writing and convening events. She regularly keynotes and participates to roundtables events on competition, regulation and digital policy. Dr. Caffarra is an Honorary Professor in Competition Economics at University College London and Co-Founder and Deputy Director of the CEPR Competition Research Policy Network. For more information, you can visit her personal website: http://www.cristinacaffarra.com/
Antitrust and Competition
What Signal are the Draft Merger Guidelines Sending to Enforcers Elsewhere?
Cristina Caffarra discusses the animating principles and profound changes brought about by the new draft Merger Guidelines, and argues they will resonate with policy makers and enforcers in other jurisdictions.
Antitrust and Competition
“Consumer Welfare Is Dead”: What Do We Do Instead?—A Perspective from Europe
“Consumer Welfare” has lost its place as the animating value and standard for modern antitrust. The standard is almost universally regarded as...
Antitrust and Competition
Antitrust Enforcement, Inflation and Corporate Greed: What do we know?
At a recent Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) event, panelists, including the Stigler Center's own Luigi Zingales, reflected on the roles...
Antitrust and Competition
Why Privacy Experts Need a Place at the Antitrust Table
Antitrust enforcers have tended to stay narrowly “in their lane,” failing to engage with how data is collected and used by digital...
Antitrust and Competition
How Will the Digital Markets Act Regulate Big Tech?
While the recently introduced Digital Markets Act rules might change prior to final approval, there is a lot to consider already. What...
Antitrust and Competition
The ACCC’s News Media Bargaining Code: Experimenting with “Decentralized Regulation” of Dominant Digital Platforms
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently proposed a mandatory bargaining code to govern negotiations between digital platforms like Google and Facebook...
Latest news
Antitrust and Competition
The Kroger-Albertsons Merger Threatens Smaller Upstream Suppliers
Much of the conversation of the proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger has focused on the risks to consumers. However, the merger also poses serious implications for the grocers’ upstream suppliers, particularly smaller regional firms.
Regulation
Why Have Uninsured Depositors Become De Facto Insured?
Due to a change in how the FDIC resolves failed banks, uninsured deposits have become de facto insured. Not only is this dangerous for risk in the banking system, it is not what Congress intends the FDIC to do, writes Michael Ohlrogge.
Antitrust and Competition
Merger Law Reaches Acquirer Incentives and Private Equity Strategies
Steven C. Salop argues that Section 7 of the Clayton Act prohibits mergers in which the acquiring firm’s unilateral incentives and business strategy are likely to lessen market competition.
Antitrust and Competition
Tim Wu Responds to Letter by Former Agency Chief Economists
Former special assistant to the president for technology and competition policy Tim Wu responds to the November 27 letter signed by former chief economists at the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department Antitrust Division calling for a separation of the legal and economic analysis in the draft Merger Guidelines.
Book Reviews
Can the Public Moderate Social Media?
ProMarket student editor Surya Gowda reviews the arguments made by Paul Gowder in his new book, The Networked Leviathan: For Democratic Platforms.
Income Inequality
Uninhibited Campaign Donations Risks Creating Oligarchy
In new research, Valentino Larcinese and Alberto Parmigiani find that the 1986 Reagan tax cuts led to greater campaign spending from wealthy individuals, who benefited the most from this policy. The authors argue that a very permissive system of political finance, combined with the erosion of tax progressivity, created the conditions for the mutual reinforcement of economic and political disparities. The result was an inequality spiral hardly compatible with democratic ideals.
ESG, Corporate Governance & Future of the Firm
Did the Meme Stock Revolution Actually Change Anything?
Many financial commentators thought that the surge of retail investors participating in the stock market, the most notable of whom boosted “meme stocks” like GameStop, would democratize corporate governance and improve prosocial firm behavior, including the promotion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. In new research, Dhruv Aggarwal, Albert H. Choi, and Yoon-Ho Alex Lee find evidence that the exact opposite took place.
