Is competition policy effective in promoting consumer and social welfare? What makes it work? These issues have always been debated. Recently Lear carried out a study for the European Commission to develop and test a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of competition policy and for identifying the features of the policy that have a significantimpact on its performance.

The study shows that a “good” competition policy can indeed contribute to economic efficiency and social welfare. But what makes a competition policy a good policy? What is the institutional regime that better serves the aims of this policy? Is an adversarial system more apt to deliver correct decisions that an inquisitorial system? What are the cost and benefits of a simple per se rule and of a rule of reason? When the former is preferable? What makes sanctions effective? What are the roles of public and private enforcement?.

By bringing together the most prominent practitioners and scholars in the field of Competition Law and Economics, this Conference aims at promoting a thorough discussion on different enforcement actions and remedies, analyzing and confronting the EU and US models and pointing out the best practices.