Competition Authorities in South Eastern Europe

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Introduction

   • Boris Begović, Dušan V. Popović

   Pages 1-6Open Access

3. Western Balkans and the Design of Effective Competition Law: The Role of Economic, Institutional and Cultural Characteristics

   • Paolo Buccirossi, Lorenzo Ciari

   Pages 7-41Open Access

4. Middle Income Convergence Trap and the Role of Competition Policy in SEE Countries

   • Boris Begović

   Pages 43-61Open Access

5. Institutional Design of State Aid Authorities in South East Europe: The Unfit Legal Transplant and Its Ramifications

   • Dušan V. Popović

   Pages 63-77Open Access

6. Antitrust, Mergers, State Aid and Consumer Protection Under the Same Roof: Does Political Compromise Prevail over the Expert Approach?

   • Andrej Plahutnik

   Pages 79-91Open Access

7. Realigning Competition Advocacy Priorities in the Context of Economic Adjustment Programmes: The Greek Case

   • Dimitris Loukas

   Pages 93-110Open Access

8. The Role of Competition Advocacy: The Serbian Experience

   • Ivana Rakić

   Pages 111-132Open Access

9. Considerations Determining the Extent of Economic Analysis and the Choice of Legal Standards in Competition Law Enforcement

   • Yannis Katsoulacos

   Pages 133-153Open Access

10. Three Economist’s Tools for Antitrust Analysis: A Non-technical Introduction

    • Russell Pittman

    Pages 155-172Open Access

11. Pricing Benchmark in Market Definition: Theoretical Background and Practical Application

    • Siniša Milošević, Jelena Popović Markopoulos, Jelena Grahovac, Aleksandra Ravić

    Pages 173-188Open Access

12. The Rationale for Using the Classic Cournot Mechanism in Merger Control

    • Bojan Ristić

    Pages 189-208Open Access

13. Difference-in-Differences as a Tool for Ex-Post Analysis of Mergers: The Case of a Merger in the Romanian Retail Market

    • Radu A. Păun, Danusia Vamvu

    Pages 209-222Open Access

This open access book provides answers to key open questions concerning competition policy in emerging economies, with a focus on South Eastern Europe. The contributions address two major issues. One is the design of competition policy and the national competition authorities that enforce it, including the topics of competition advocacy and state aid control; the other is the use of economic methods in competition law enforcement, especially in the cases of relevant market definition and merger control. 



Many lessons learned in the countries of South Eastern Europe can be applied to the emerging markets of other regions. As such, the findings presented here will be highly relevant for officials and staff at national competition authorities, advisers to legislators shaping national competition policy, competition law professionals, and university students alike.

• Design of Competition Law
• National competition authorities
• Definition of relevant markets
• Merger control
• Economic tools for competition law enforcement
• Economic analysis of legal standards
• Competition advocacy
• State aid control
• Open Access

• Department of Law and Economics, University of Belgrade, School of Law, Belgrade, Serbia

  Boris Begović

• Department of Civil Law, University of Belgrade, School of Law, Belgrade, Serbia

  Dušan V. Popović

Boris Begović is a Professor of Economics at the School of Law, University of Belgrade, where he teaches competition law courses, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies (CLDS), Belgrade, Serbia. He completed his studies at the University of Belgrade, London School of Economics and JFK School of Government, Harvard University. His field of expertise includes theory of economic growth, industrial organization, economics of competition policy, political economy, and economic analysis of law. He has published numerous articles in international journals (including European Journal of Political Economy, Journal of International and Comparative Economics (Economic Systems), and Papers in Regional Science and Urban Studies), as well as seven books: Economic Approach to Optimal City Size (1991), Economic of Town Planning (1995), Corruption: An Economic Analysis (2007), Economics for Lawyers (2009), Institutional Aspects of Economic Growth (2011), Introduction to Competition Law (2012) and Economic Analysis of Criminal Deterrence (2015). He has been a consultant to the Serbian Commission for Protection of Competition and is a regular columnist in Serbian daily newspapers and weekly magazines.


Dušan V. Popović is an Associate Professor of Business Law at the School of Law, University of Belgrade, where he teaches competition law and intellectual property law. After completing his undergraduate legal studies at the University of Belgrade, he received his MSc degree in EU law at the University of Nancy and a PhD degree in competition law at the University of Paris Nanterre. He received EU Tempus grants for research at the universities of Salzburg and Strasbourg, and the Max Planck Society grant for a research stay at the MP Institute for Innovation and Competition. He has published numerous articles in international and Serbian scientific journals, and several books: Les noms de domaine et le droit de propriété intellectuelle (2005), European Court of Justice (2006), Le droit communautaire de la concurrence et les communications électroniques (2009), Exclusive Intellectual Property Rights and Free Competition (2012), Intellectual Property Law (2013), Registration of Domain Names and Trademark Law (2014), International Encyclopaedia of Laws for Intellectual Property Law: Serbia (2016). He serves as an arbitrator at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, attached to the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, and is president of the Serbian domain-name dispute resolution institution.