ENCORE annual conference ‘Welfare and Competition’

ENCORE's second annual        conference was held in Amsterdam on Thursday, April 14, 2005. This year’s conference theme was: 'Welfare and Competition': is increasing competition welfare enhancing? Formulating an answer to this question is central to the everyday work of competition authorities and regulators as they endeavour to support or stimulate the level of competition in a sector.

To deal with this issue, renowned academic researchers from the Netherlands, Germany and the US discussed the tricky relationship between welfare and the intensity of competition. Starting from real-life evidence on the social costs of cartels, several qualifications from experimental testings, the economics of innovation, and auction theory were made as to the simple reasoning that more competition is always good, culminating in the presentation of a theory stating that cartels are, in fact, a wellspring of market generated welfare. The concluding policy lecture was given by Mr. A.W. Kist, former Director General of the Dutch Competition Authority. He also handed out this year’s ENCORE masters’ thesis prize.

• ENCORE website