Competition Policy and the COVID-19 Opportunity
Jorge Padilla, Nicolas Petit, Competition policy and the Covid-19 opportunity, May 2020, Concurrences N° 2-2020, Art. N° 94317, pp. 2-6, https://www.concurrences.com/en/review/issues/no-2-2020/foreword/competition-policy-and-the-covid-19-opportunity-94317-en
Posted: 12 May 2021
Date Written: May 18, 2020
Abstract
This short paper argues that the COVID-19 crisis provides an opportunity for improvements in long term growth in the EU by allowing the exit of zombie firms that trap industries into low productivity cycles, limited technology diffusion, and weak economic dynamism. To seize this opportunity, competition policy must abandon its focus on rivalry. And it must embrace a politically costly, yet economically sound non-horizontal approach in State aid and merger control.
Keywords: European Union, International, COVID-19, Competition policy, Economic analysis, Merger notification, State aid scheme, State aid notification
JEL Classification: K21
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation