Foreword -- Introduction -- Western Balkans and the Design of Effective Competition Law: The Role of Economic, Institutional and Cultural Characteristics -- Middle Income Convergence Trap and the Role of Competition Policy in SEE countries -- Institutional Design of State Aid Authorities in South East Europe: The Unfit Legal Transplant and its Ramifications -- Antitrust, Mergers, State Aid and Consumer Protection Under the Same Roof: Does Political Compromise Prevail Over the Expert Approach? -- Realigning Competition Advocacy Priorities in the Context of Economic Adjustment Programmes: the Greek Case -- The role of competition advocacy: the Serbian experience -- Considerations Determining the Extent of Economic Analysis and the Choice of Legal Standards in Competition Law Enforcement -- Three Economist’s Tools for Antitrust Analysis: A Non-Technical Introduction -- Pricing Benchmark in Market Definition: Theoretical Background and Practical Application -- The Rationale for Using the Classic Cournot Mechanism in Merger Control -- Difference-in-Differences as a Tool for Ex-Post Analysis of Mergers: The Case of a Merger in the Romanian Retail Market.

Open 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.