“The end consumer will always have the power”

The Faculty of Economics and the Economics Law Department held the Conference "Relevance of regulation and competition policy economic analysis.”

At the meeting, German Enrique Bacca Medina and Mauricio Pérez discussed the regulatory mechanisms currently used in different markets, as in this area, several actors responsible for making decisions interact, which, in the end, are guided mainly by consumers’ choices.

“The power of the consumer is growing exponentially and already is beginning to guide entrepreneurs’ decisions. Thanks to users, Uber, for example, is still operating; while not yet regulated, is what people prefer,” said Bacca.

The speakers also addressed the need to view products and services from a digital viewpoint, even though disciplines such as Economics have been very reluctant to do so. They emphasized this is the way of the future and the one the end consumer will always prefer.

Bacca and Pérez also talked about collaborative economics, defined as the integration between two or more subjects through digital media, to give students and attendees a vision of the role this model will play in the coming years.

At the end of the conference, the speakers answered questions and comments from attending Economics and Law students.  Also, they explained different cases where the regulator might employ direct or indirect intervention mechanisms in pursuit of specific objectives, while the role of the competition authority is to discipline markets through its sanctioning faculty.