Patrick McNutt’s paper at a symposium hosted by the Faculty of Law, Universite du Luxembourg, European Court of Justice and European Association of Law and Economics argued that the infusion of economics into competition and antitrust law has focused the antitrust debate on the protection of consumer welfare, and latterly, enhancing economic efficiency. It has established a ‘best’ outcome described in terms of (perfect) competition. A more appropriate model in our search for the ‘best’ outcome may be found in a model that incorporates an institutional dimension of society – an economic system that includes a portion of the political and legal structure as well. A model of a corporate economy rather than a model of a firm: a model that recognises that certain markets will in time be organised into a cartel or consolidated through some type of government regulated intervention. Copy of the paper can be located in Recent Conference Papers icon in this web page.
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Emperor’s New Clothes: A Single National Prices Commission? by Patrick McNutt

Article (doc)

March 2006, Patrick McNutt addresses a group of US executives visiting Dublin on the theme of the future challenges for Ireland plc.

Global Competition (ppt)

Patrick McNutt promotes MBA learning at The Manchester Business School, one of the leading business schools in the world. Like the pink blossoms falling from a frangipani tree, enhancing a sense of tranquillity, the Manchester MBA will enhance your sense of knowledge and learning.
Shanghai Daily Article (pdf)

Writing in Public Affairs Ireland, Patrick McNutt observes that everyday experience in Ireland of late is one of ever-increasing prices and increasing charges across the board, particularly in the regulated sectors. J.K Galbraith caught the mood in his Affluent Society published nearly fifty years ago in 1958: ‘there is nothing on which the conventional wisdom is more completely agreed than the importance of stable prices’. Price conscious consumers in Ireland would concur. Why do we need so many regulators to regulate the price?

In his submission to the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Patrick McNutt ‘has suggested either (i) replacing the Groceries Order in its entirety with an Amendment to the Competition Act 2002 that inserts a time test on bona fide price offers or (ii) given the complexity in understanding the meaning of price under the Groceries Order, insert a new Section modelled on a price variant of the civil ordinary selling price provisions of the Canadian Competition Act’.

Groceries Order (pdf)

Regulation of financial services is a key component in obtaining a degree of international competitiveness in a modern progressive economy, argued Patrick McNutt in submission to Department of Finance. In framing a single legal text purporting to supplant all or part of existing primary legislation governing the regulation of the financial services sector in Ireland there are two key factors argues McNutt and thus, the Minister’s intention to establish a new regulatory structure is timely. The two factors are:

1. The rapid technological changes in telecommunications and data processing.
2. The regulatory burden in the post-FSAP environment across the EU25. The Minister’s intention is that the Consolidation and Simplification Bill, [henceforth, the Bill] is to be presented to the Oireachtas in 2005 and that it should cover a range of priorities, and thus comply with the State’s obligations under EU law. The regulatory obligations will evolve during the implementation stages of the European Commission’s Financial Services Action Plan [FSAP, henceforth], commencing 2005.

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says Patrick McNutt

Powerpoint Slide (ppt)

File (PDF)

Summer 2002 Issue
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