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The EU and International Cooperation in Competition Policy

其他書名	Public Interest Or Public Choice?
出版	University of Sussex, 2009
URL	http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=aQN_0AEACAAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api

註釋The thesis examines international cooperation 1n competition policy, focusing on the European Commission as the competent institution to enforce competition law in the EU. In order to understand the nature of international cooperation in competition, four case studies have been analysed: intra-EU relations, cooperation with candidate countries, transatlantic collaboration. and multilateral relations. The thesis contributes to the knowledge of competition policy in the area of international cooperation between competition authorities by outlining the exchange of material/information between them and by analysing competition agencies behaviours. Additionally, it assesses the analytical leverage of the theory of public interest and the theory of public choice in the context of competition policy. Empirically, the thesis is based on a systematic analysis of official documents, a number of interviews carried out with policy-makers, and an online survey. The empirical data gathered are evaluated against the criteria derived from the theories under scrutiny. Theoretically, the thesis evaluates the explanatory power of two main theories of policymaking. Public interest theory postulates that competition agencies act in the public interest or for the public good, implying that they pursue their tasks in the most efficient way possible. Public choice theory postulates that the behaviour of competition officials reflects their self-interested aims of possessing a larger budget, an enhanced reputation, a higher media profile, or else reflects capture by industry interests. The thesis argues that by and large intra-EU cooperation represents efficient collaboration among the national competition authorities, motivated by the public interest, despite the fact that some behaviour may be motivated by public choice considerations. By contrast, multinational negotiations on the creation of an international competition agreement at the WTO demonstrate a stronger influence of the public choice motives, whereas the remaining (two) cases represent, to a greater or lesser extent, a mix of the two motives.