Markets, Monopolies and Moguls: the relationship between inequality and competition

Venue: Copland Theatre, The Spot

Presenters: Dr Andrew Leigh MP

In the US, economists are starting to look at some of the specific ways competition policy could more explicitly target inequality. For example, by prioritising competition lawsuits with a direct consumer element (that is, over cases where those affected are primarily other businesses); designing remedies that advantage low-income consumers, and adopting inequality as a specific consideration on the checklist of factors considered in competition cases (as the Canadian Competition Tribunal has done since 2002).

Similarly, the decisions regulators make about mergers and pricing can have a direct impact on cost of living and service access for consumers. In Australia, our regulatory frames for competition are mostly blind to considerations of economic inequality.

Dr Andrew Leigh MP will present the Freebairn Public Lecture 2016 showing the kinds of problems this can create for consumers and governments, and will discuss what’s at stake if we don’t broaden the way we evaluate and define proper practice for our markets and mergers.

Light Refreshments will be served from 6.30pm in the Ground Floor Foyer of The Spot.

Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Federal Member for Fraser in the ACT. Andrew received the 'Young Economist Award' in 2011 by the Economics Society of Australia to the best Australian economist under 40. Andrew is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, and his books include Disconnected (2010), Battlers and Billionaires (2013), The Economics of Just About Everything (2014) and The Luck of Politics (2015).

from
https://events.unimelb.edu.au/events/6781-markets-monopolies-and-moguls-the-relationship-between-inequality-and-competition