Antitrust & Competition Policy Blog

Editor: D. Daniel Sokol
USC Gould School of Law

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Wednesday, May 25, 2016

European Commission appoints Tommaso Valletti as new Chief Economist of DG Competition

By D Daniel Sokol

Congratulations to Imperial College Business School Professor Tommaso Valletti who was just appointed as new DG Competition Chief Economist.  According to the press release:

The European Commission has appointed Professor Tommaso Valletti as the new Chief Economist of the Directorate General for Competition. Professor Valletti , who is an Italian national, currently holds teaching positions at both Imperial College Business School and at the University of Rome "Tor Vergata". He is also an Academic Director at the Centre for Regulation in Europe (CERRE) in Brussels, sits in the panel of academic advisors of OFCOM, the UK’s communications regulator and is a member of DG Competition’s Economic Advisory Group on Competition Policy. He will take up his duties as the fifth competition Chief Economist on 1 September 2016. The role entails assisting in the evaluation of the economic impact of the Commission’s actions in the competition field and providing independent guidance on methodological issues of economics and econometrics in the application of EU competition rules.

Valletti is a serious economist.  His recent papers include:

Valletti T, Ahlfeldt G, Koutroumpis P, Speed 2.0: Evaluating access to universal digital highways, Journal of the European Economic Association, ISSN: 1542-4774

This paper shows that having access to a fast Internet connection is an important determinant ofcapitalization effects in property markets. Our empirical strategy combines a boundarydiscontinuity design with controls for time-invariant effects and arbitrary macro-economicshocks at a very local level to identify the causal effect of broadband speed on property pricesfrom variation that is plausibly exogenous. Applying this strategy to a micro data set fromEngland between 1995 and 2010 we find a significantly positive effect, but diminishing returnsto speed. Our results imply that disconnecting an average property from a high-speed firstgenerationbroadband connection (offering Internet speed up to 8 Mbit/s) would depreciate itsvalue by 2.8%. In contrast, upgrading such a property to a faster connection (offering speeds upto 24 Mbit/s) would increase its value by no more than 1%. We decompose this effect by incomeand urbanization, finding considerable heterogeneity. These estimates are used to evaluateproposed plans to deliver fast broadband universally. We find that increasing speed andconnecting unserved households passes a cost-benefit test in urban and some suburban areas,while the case for universal delivery in rural areas is not as strong.

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Reggiani C, Valletti T, 2016, Net neutrality and innovation at the core and at the edge, International Journal of Industrial Organization, Vol: 45, Pages: 16-27, ISSN: 0167-7187

How would abandoning Internet net neutrality affect content providers that have different sizes? We model an Internet broadband provider that can offer a different quality of service (priority) to heterogeneous content providers. Internet users can potentially access all content, although they browse and click ads with different probabilities. Net neutrality regulation effectively protects innovation done at the edge by small content providers. Prioritization, instead, increases both infrastructure core investment and welfare only if it sufficiently stimulates innovation from the large content provider.

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Valletti T, Peitz M, Greenstein S, 2016, Net Neutrality: A Fast Lane to Understanding the Trade-offs, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol: 30, Pages: 127-150, ISSN: 1944-7965

The “net neutrality” principle has triggered a heated debate and advocates have proposed policy interventions.In this paper, we provide perspective by framing issues in terms of the positive economic factors at work. We stress the incentives of market participants, and highlight the economic conflicts behind the arguments put forward by the different parties. We also identify several key open questions.

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Bourreau M, Kourandi F, Valletti T, 2015, NET NEUTRALITY WITH COMPETING INTERNET PLATFORMS,JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS, Vol: 63, Pages: 30-73, ISSN: 0022-1821

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Genakos C, Valletti T, 2015, Evaluating a Decade of Mobile Termination Rate Regulation, ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Vol: 125, Pages: F31-F48, ISSN: 0013-0133

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Kourandi F, Kraemer J, Valletti T, 2015, Net Neutrality, Exclusivity Contracts, and Internet Fragmentation,INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH, Vol: 26, Pages: 320-338, ISSN: 1047-7047

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Nardotto M, Valletti T, Verboven F, 2015, UNBUNDLING THE INCUMBENT: EVIDENCE FROM UK BROADBAND, JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION, Vol: 13, Pages: 330-362, ISSN: 1542-4766

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Peitz M, Valletti T, 2015, Reassessing competition concerns in electronic communications markets,TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY, Vol: 39, Pages: 896-912, ISSN: 0308-5961

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Stavropoulou C, Valletti T, 2015, Compulsory licensing and access to drugs, EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH ECONOMICS, Vol: 16, Pages: 83-94, ISSN: 1618-7598

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Bennato AR, Valletti T, 2014, Pharmaceutical innovation and parallel trade, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION, Vol: 33, Pages: 83-92, ISSN: 0167-7187

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Hoernig S, Inderst R, Valletti T, 2014, Calling circles: network competition with nonuniform calling patterns,RAND JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS, Vol: 45, Pages: 155-175, ISSN: 0741-6261

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Iozzi A, Valletti T, 2014, Vertical Bargaining and Countervailing Power, AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MICROECONOMICS, Vol: 6, Pages: 106-135, ISSN: 1945-7669

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Valletti T, 2014, Special Issue: Selected Papers, European Association for Research in Industrial Economics 40th Annual Conference, Evora, Portugal/30 August-1 September 2013 Foreword, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION, Vol: 34, Pages: 36-36, ISSN: 0167-7187

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Haskel J, Iozzi A, Valletti T, 2013, Market structure, countervailing power and price discrimination: The case of airports, JOURNAL OF URBAN ECONOMICS, Vol: 74, Pages: 12-26, ISSN: 0094-1190

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Calzada J, Valletti TM, 2012, Intertemporal Movie Distribution: Versioning When Customers Can Buy Both Versions, MARKETING SCIENCE, Vol: 31, Pages: 649-667, ISSN: 0732-2399

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Genakos C, Valletti T, 2012, Regulating prices in two-sided markets: The waterbed experience in mobile telephony, TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY, Vol: 36, Pages: 360-368, ISSN: 0308-5961

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Genakos C, Valletti T, 2011, TESTING THE "WATERBED" EFFECT IN MOBILE TELEPHONY, JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION, Vol: 9, Pages: 1114-1142, ISSN: 1542-4766

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Genakos C, Valletti T, 2011, Seesaw in the air: Interconnection regulation and the structure of mobile tariffs,INFORMATION ECONOMICS AND POLICY, Vol: 23, Pages: 159-170, ISSN: 0167-6245

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Hoernig S, Valletti TM, 2011, When Two-Part Tariffs are Not Enough: Mixing with Nonlinear Pricing, B E JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL ECONOMICS, Vol: 11, ISSN: 1935-1704

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Inderst R, Valletti T, 2011, Incentives for input foreclosure, EUROPEAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Vol: 55, Pages: 820-831, ISSN: 0014-2921

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Inderst R, Valletti TM, 2011, BUYER POWER AND THE 'WATERBED EFFECT', JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS, Vol: 59, Pages: 1-20, ISSN: 0022-1821

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Genakos C, Valletti T, 2010, Mobile regulation and the 'waterbed' effect, Promoting New Telecom Infrastructures: Markets, Policies and Pricing, Pages: 284-300, ISBN: 9781849804455

BOOK CHAPTER

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/antitrustprof_blog/2016/05/european-commission-appoints-tommaso-valletti-as-new-chief-economist-of-dg-competition.html

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