Role of Economic Analysis in the DMA
This program ranks among Europe’s leading postgraduate courses in competition law and is distinguished by its pronounced interdisciplinary orientation. It systematically integrates legal and economic analytical approaches, with a particular emphasis on the functioning of modern markets and the application of European and international competition law. The curriculum is both research-intensive and closely aligned with practice.
Within this framework, the program provides an especially suitable setting to present and critically examine the economic foundations and effects of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) at a high academic level.
The application of the DMA is fundamentally shaped by a consistently effects-based approach, focusing on the underlying mechanisms of digital markets. Issues of market power are assessed through a differentiated analysis that considers network effects, economies of scale, and data-driven competitive advantages. A broad array of economic tools is employed to operationalize the normative structure of the DMA and to serve as a central analytical framework for its enforcement.
Since 2019, I have been contributing regularly to this Master’s program by varying interventions, thereby introducing a distinct German perspective on competition economics and competition law issues. This teaching activity continuous my Professorship of Applied Economics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium, 2010–2019) at a faculty of law thereby underscoring the inherently interdisciplinary nature of economic analysis in competition law. It also illustrates that scholars in this field both can and should operate across the boundaries of law and economics to be fruitful !