10 The Use of Economic Evidence in Competition Cases

Subject(s):

Economics — Evidence — Hearings — National enforcement — Private enforcement

Competition lawyers and economists routinely work alongside each other as complements (not substitutes). This chapter explores best practice in presenting economic evidence. Various competition authorities have issued guidance on this. It also looks at how courts can assess what weight and credibility to attach to the evidence of economic experts, especially in situations where two experts reach different conclusions. Useful criteria for dealing with these situations have been developed in the United States (the Daubert test), the United Kingdom (the ‘duty to help the court’), and Australia (the ‘hot tub’). The chapter discusses some of the themes that have arisen in court cases with regard to economic evidence and how it can be interpreted—do economists in court always get a fair hearing? It concludes with some, mostly optimistic, observations about future trends in the use of economics in competition law.