Mario Mariniello

Writing for PS since 2013
1 commentaries
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Will Users Be Losers in “EU versus Google”?

Nov 8, 2013

Dear Mr Lawsky, dear Mr Weber Many thanks for commenting my article: it is really helpful to hear the views of parties involved in the case. You explain your views in a very clear way and I do not think there is further need for me to reply in detail. I leave it up to the readers to make up their mind on the issues at stake and on the instances brought up by the different players. Just I would like to take the occasion to make a general comment and address what seems to be a common misunderstanding about the role of antitrust. In the last two sentences of his comment, Mr Weber suggests that weakening Google’s dominance would benefit consumers. However, weakening a company’s dominance cannot be the purpose of antitrust enforcement. Antitrust enforcement should only target a misuse of that dominance, not the dominance in itself. That is very important, because antitrust intervention could otherwise distort the incentives of any company in the future to achieve same dominance levels through pro-competitive behaviour, such as investing in the development of innovative and efficient technologies. In other words: in order to warrant antitrust intervention against Google, there must be evidence that Google misused its market power, not just that Google holds that power. Best regards Mario Mariniello

Abolish the Billionaires?

Edoardo Campanella

Even many of the wealthiest Americans would agree that the United States needs to overhaul its tax policies to restore a sense of social justice. But, notes Edoardo Campanella, Future of the World Fellow at IE University's Center for the Governance of Change, such reforms would not be enough to restart the engines of social mobility and promote greater equality of opportunity.

Will Users Be Losers in “EU versus Google”?
Nov 8, 2013

Dear Mr Lawsky, dear Mr Weber Many thanks for commenting my article: it is really helpful to hear the views of parties involved in the case. You explain your views in a very clear way and I do not think there is further need for me to reply in detail. I leave it up to the readers to make up their mind on the issues at stake and on the instances brought up by the different players. Just I would like to take the occasion to make a general comment and address what seems to be a common misunderstanding about the role of antitrust. In the last two sentences of his comment, Mr Weber suggests that weakening Google’s dominance would benefit consumers. However, weakening a company’s dominance cannot be the purpose of antitrust enforcement. Antitrust enforcement should only target a misuse of that dominance, not the dominance in itself. That is very important, because antitrust intervention could otherwise distort the incentives of any company in the future to achieve same dominance levels through pro-competitive behaviour, such as investing in the development of innovative and efficient technologies. In other words: in order to warrant antitrust intervention against Google, there must be evidence that Google misused its market power, not just that Google holds that power. Best regards Mario Mariniello
Will Users Be Losers in “EU versus Google”?
Nov 8, 2013

Dear Ms Maczinsky Thanks a lot for taking the time to comment my article. The quick answer to your statement can be found on the European Commission's website: http://ec.europa.eu/competition/consumers/what_en.html More generally, let me point out that your statement is not correct. The EU case law and jurisprudence is very straightforward: "competition law consists of rules that are intended to protect the process of competition in order to maximize consumer welfare" and "Numerous statements to the effect that Article 102 is actually concerned with the protection of competition rather than the protection of competitors can be found. Many of these come from the Commission [...] but they can also be found in judgments of the EU Courts" (Whish&Bailey, 2012). Best regards Mario Mariniello

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