Sustainability and Market Failure: Regulation v. Competition

The paper deals with the trade-off between competition enforcement and regulation when it comes to sustainability policies. It starts from public policy analysis in its traditional, three steps, economic approach: identifying the economic problem and market failures; outlining the options in solutions; balancing the pros and cons of regulation versus competition enforcement, in the light of the initiatives on sustainable competition already taken by National Competition Authorities. The articles conclude on a focal role for antitrust law and policy in the ecological transition envisaged by the Green Deal, as far as dynamic competition promotes green innovations.