Contributors

Dr Maarten Pieter Schinkel, is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Amsterdam and Co-director of the Amsterdam Center for Law & Economics (ACLE). He is Academic Director of ENCORE. Dr Schinkel's research interests and teaching span industrial organization theory, competition policy issues and the economics of information. In 2005/2006, Dr Schinkel is Deputy Economic Counsel to the Board of the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa), an alternating part-time advisory position.

Drs. Jan Willem Oosterwijk, is Secretary-General of the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs and Chair of the Dutch CEC economic advisory committee to the government. The Secretary General is responsible for the overall strategy of the Ministry in the area of structural economic policy, innovation, entrepreneurship, foreign economic policy, energy and telecommunications.

Prof. Michael Waterson, is Professor of Industrial Economics at the University of Warwick. He is an industrial economist whose research interests include the analysis of vertical restraints; the economics of retailing; competition in regulated industries, and competition policy. He has a recent paper in Economic Journal (0ctober 2005), with Monica Giulietti and Catherine Waddams, entitled "Consumer choice and Competition Policy: a study of UK Energy Markets". In 2003, Prof. Waterson published a paper ‘Consumers and Competition' that inspired the conference title.

Prof. Eric van Damme, is Professor of Economics at the Center for Economic Research, Tilburg University. His research interests include game theory, economic theory, competition policy and regulation, experimental economics, bounded rationality and bargaining. He has written numerous books and articles. He has extensively consulted firms and governmental bodies in his area of expertise.

Prof. Barry Schwartz, is the Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action in the Psychology Department at Swarthmore College. Prof. Schwartz has published numerous academic articles. Among his books are The Battle for Human Nature, The Costs of Living and, the most recent, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less (Dutch title: De Paradox van Keuzes ) .

Prof. Schwartz's current research concerns two issues: the relation between freedom, choice and psychological well-being, and the role of practical wisdom in enabling people to make the ordinary moral decisions they face every day.

Prof. Fred van Raaij, is Professor of Psychology and Society at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Tilburg University. He is interested in the border area of economics and psychology, for example behavioural and experimental economics. His research interests include consumer behaviour, consumer goods and consumption.

Frank de Grave, is the Chairman of the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZA), which will be inaugurated in the Summer of 2006. He is a former Minister of Defence and State Secretary of Social Affairs and Employment.

Dr Derk Reneman, is Director of the strategy unit of the Netherlands Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. He is also Director of the deregulation programme at the same ministry. He is a former market researcher.

Dr Fieke van der Lecq, is manager of the Financial Sector Monitor of the Netherlands Competition Authority. She holds graduate degrees in economics and business economics, and a doctoral degree in monetary economics. During her part time affiliation with the Erasmus School of Economics and Business Economics (ESEBE) in Rotterdam, her current research deals with rationality, institutions, and pension funds.

Dr Marcel Canoy, studied Econometrics at the University of Amsterdam, specializing in industrial organization. After working for nine years in the field of competition and regulation at the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, he joined the European Commission. Since 2005, he is a member of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA), the think tank of the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.