Masters Thesis Prize 2003-2004

Report by the jury

In order to stimulate academic research and education in industrial economics in the Netherlands, ENCORE annually awards a prize for the best master's thesis in the field of competition and regulation. Eight theses competed for the ENCORE Master's Thesis Prize 2003-2004.

 

One thesis was excluded from competition as its topic did not sufficiently fit the criteria for participation , i.e. research in that is relevant for competition policy and regulation in The Netherlands. In particular, the jury considered that the focus of the paper was on public economics and that it did not generally fit into industrial economics and/or the analysis of competition policy and regulation.

The seven competing theses were written by students at Erasmus University Rotterdam (2), Tilburg University (1), Groningen University (1) and Maastricht University (3), respectively.

Given the quality of the theses, the jury decided to award a first, a second and third prize. The prize winning theses are of high quality and topics and their treatment of the subject matter is original.   The jury, consisting of Anne Willem Kist, Peter AG van Bergeijk and Patrick van Cayseele, notes that one of the theses has been accepted as a paper at an international scientific conference while one student is abroad preparing a PhD, that is partially based on the MA thesis. The submissions, accordingly, point out that excellent students consider competition and regulation to be worthy topics for their MA thesis.

The theses are to be evaluated on the basis of six independent criteria:

1. Style and accessibility;
2. Review of the literature and its relevance;
3. Definition of markets and competition problems;
4. Collection of data and discussion of the quality of the data;
5. Analysis, measurement and reporting on the results;
6. The relevancy for science and policy.

Last year all submitted theses dealt with Dutch markets and sectors, discussed Dutch competition policy decisions and/or tested theories that had been developed in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the jury has to note that this year's papers are hardly empirical in nature and less informed about (Dutch) data, markets and policies. Consequently, the fourth item on the list of criteria led to remarkably low scores. In this respect honourable mention should be made of the notable exception of the thesis Debit card payment systems by Kim Janssen of Tilburg University.

The lack of data collection and the absence of detailed analysis of available data is a cause for concern from the perspective of the goal of the ENCORE Master's Thesis Prize. The jury would like to stress that progress in industrial economics is only possible if both theory and observation are used to increase knowledge and urges academic staff to stimulate students to pay more attention to the essentially empirical nature of industrial economics. With this caveat in mind, the jury is happy to be able to award three prices for three excellent MA theses.

 

The third prize is awarded to Marie Goppelsröder of Maastricht University for her thesis Network Externalities and its Implications on Antitrust in Innovative Industries. The study was supervised by Maarten Pieter Schinkel and provides an excellent review of the literature and is written in a concise style. Marie reviews competition policy issues in innovative networks balancing the Harvard and Chicago views. Given the large variety of the literature that only recently has somewhat settled, this is an excellent achievement that holds great promise for the future. Marie is able to arrive at an important conclusion as she cautions against questionable evidence and argues for more prudence and greater use of rule of reason in competition policy.

 

The second prize is awarded to Bastiaan Overvest of Groningen University for his thesis Games Contractors Play . The thesis was supervised by Marco Haan and uses micro economic theory on auctions to explain certain features of the Dutch construction fraud linking theory and observation in a creative manner. The thesis deals with a very relevant topic, is very strong in methodology and shows craftsmanship and the ability to make valid economic-theoretic judgements. Better use could, however, have been made from readily available information at the Central Bureau of Statistics or the so-called Bos-boekhouding (a cartel's shadow account). Also the experiences of other competition authorities in Europe, Asia and the United States could have helped to understand which hypotheses were supported by the evidence thus strengthening policy conclusions and recommendations. The jury would like to stimulate Bastiaan to follow is strategy so that his work can get the impact that it deserves.

 

The first prize is awarded to Jakob Rüggeberg of Maastricht University for the thesis Private Enforcement of Competition Law in the European Union: Efficiency Arguments for Vertical Chain Class Action Suits in Private Antitrust Damages Claims. The thesis was supervised by Maarten Pieter Schinkel. The thesis deals with a relevant topic in view of the Modernisation of EC Competition law and in particular of Regulation 1/2003. The thesis is timely since policy makers and competition enforces are discussing the potential contribution of private enforcement. Based on international experiences and the theoretical literature of private anti trust damages, Jakob develops a microeconomic model. Extensive and detailed simulation analyses have been applied to a great many variables (such as the cartel profit rate, the relative consumer injury, the pass on rate and key parameters such as the number of upstream and down stream firms) thus offering a valid alternative to assess the robustness of his theoretical arguments where necessary. The thesis is convincing where it argues that violations upstream lead to substantial welfare losses downstream and suggests many ways to address the issue of how to repair private anti trust damages in civil courts. The jury notes with pleasure that the paper was recently presented at an international conference organized by the Amsterdam Centre of Law and Economics and hopes that the prize will stimulate Jakob to work on a scientific publication to further the discussion of private enforcement of competition.