Experimental Economics and Competition Policy: Unilateral and Coordinated Effects in Competition Games

Abstract

The article introduces experimental economics as a teaching tool and as an analytical instrument in a competition policy context. Based on experimental data from two training sessions in two different competition authorities, the advantages of an experimental approach in conveying an intuitive insight into some of the most fundamental economic concepts of relevance in a competition law context are discussed. Furthermore the article discusses the analytical value of the approach in the analysis of competition cases and in particular its value in co-ordinated effects cases. From the perspective of experimental economics, an exclusive focus on game theoretic criteria, as for instance in the Airtours criteria, may result in enforcement gaps as the stability of collusion is underestimated.