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Damien Neven joins CRA

Professor Damien Neven, Chief Economist at DG Competition until last April, has joined Charles River Associates as Senior Academic Consultant.

Professor Neven teaches Economics at the Graduate Institute at the University of Geneva, and will work closely with CRA's consulting economists and academic associates in Europe and the US, based in CRA's Brussels office.

Professor Neven is a distinguished academic economist with a record of publications in applied industrial organisation and competition policy. Prior to his appointment as the Chief Economist in 2006, he advised parties on major cases such as Airtours/First Choice, Volvo/Scania and Tetra Laval/Sidel.

During his tenure as Chief Economist, he provided direct advice to the Competition Commissioner and was closely involved in a number of key developments, both in terms of policy and case assessment. These include the adoption of the Guidelines for the Assessment of Non Horizontal Mergers, with related landmark cases like TomTom/TeleAtlas and Google/DoubleClick; the Guidance Paper on the Priorities for the Enforcement of Article 102 - with related cases like Intel and Velux; the development of quantitative methods of investigation, in particular for horizontal mergers, which have found extensive application in cases such as Aer Lingus/Ryanair, Friesland/Campina, Statoil/Conoco and Unilever/Sara Lee.

He has also promoted the adoption of the Guidelines on the Submission and Evaluation of Economic Evidence, which sets a framework and standards for the development of economic analysis in all cases. He has overseen the economic analysis of other high-profile or significant cases such as Oracle/Sun, BHP Billiton/Rio Tinto, Mastercard, Visa and Olympic/Aegean. He has also worked extensively on the Commission's response to the financial crisis and the development of policy towards state aid in the banking sector.

In his time as Chief Economist, he led the expansion of the Chief Economist Team over just four years from around 10 to nearly 30 highly trained economists, playing a role in all major matters.

Contact
Email: dneven@crai.com
Tel: +32-2-627-1400

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