The paper “The Effective Use of Economics in the EU Digital Markets Act”, written by Amelia Fletcher, Jacques Cremer, Paul Heidhues, Gene Kimmelman, Giorgio Monti, Rupprecht Podszun, Monika Schnitzer, Alexandre de Streel, Fiona M. Scott Morton, was awarded the Antitrust Writing Award 2025. In their analysis, the authors examine the role of economic expertise in the implementation of the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) - a key instrument of the European Commission to curb the power of large digital platforms (“gatekeepers”) and promote fair competition.

Although the DMA deliberately relies on formal legal rules and largely dispenses with classic economic evaluation standards such as market definitions or efficiency analyses, the paper argues that economic thinking is essential for effective regulation.

Key messages of the paper

The award-winning paper emphasizes:

• Economics remains crucial in order to actually achieve the goals of the DMA - market opening (contestability) and fairness. This applies in particular to the practical application and enforcement of the regulations.
• The complex characteristics of digital markets, such as strong network effects, lock-in effects and asymmetric information distribution, make it necessary to analyze market behavior with economic precision.
• The authors pay particular attention to behavioral mechanisms that influence user decisions through platform design (“nudging”). These findings are key to realistically assessing the impact of regulatory interventions.
• Without an economically sound implementation, there is a risk of both over-regulation (with negative effects on innovation) and under-regulation (with insufficient effects on competition).

The annual Antitrust Writing Award, organized by Concurrences in cooperation with the George Washington University Competition Law Center, honors outstanding publications in antitrust and competition law worldwide. The decision is based on scientific quality, innovative strength and practical influence.