Research and analysis

Deterrent effect of competition authorities’ work

Literature review of methodologies to measure the deterrent effect of competition authorities’ work.

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Competition enforcement can deter anti-competitive behaviour by firms that are not the direct subject of investigations.

This report gives an overview of the existing theoretical and empirical evidence on the deterrent effect of competition authorities’ work.

Our review finds good evidence of the existence of a substantial deterrent effect from competition authorities’ actions, but also that the existing literature is of limited help in establishing a practical methodology for assessing the likely deterrent effect of any particular enforcement action.

Published 7 September 2017