Abertis Chair of Regulation, Competition and Public Policy

The Abertis Chair of Regulation, Competition and Public Policy was created with the aim of developing research, generating ideas and increasing knowledge in the areas of regulation, competition and public policy. The findings of this research are intended to inspire and educate employers and managers.

The Chair was created in response to the commitment of both Abertis and IESE to the generation, promotion and discovery of new knowledge, both at an academic level and in its practical application to business management and the training of managers and employers. Both Abertis and IESE are convinced that the exchange of ideas between business and university institutions and the creation of a harmonized perspective provide effective tools in the advancement of society.

The research projects pursued by the Chair focus on the following issues:

• Corporate mergers, regulation and competition in Europe
• Regulatory mechanisms in the networks sectors
• Regulation of  the banking sector and financial markets
• Market structure and innovation
• Location of business headquarters

The Chair is held by Xavier Vives, Professor of Economics at IESE and Academic Director of IESE’s Public-Private Research Center.

Xavier Vives is professor of Economics and Finance, Abertis Chair of Regulation, Competition and Public Policy, and academic director of the Public-Private Research Center at IESE Business School, and adjunct professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from UC Berkeley.

He is a member of the Economic Advisory Group on Competition Policy at the European Commission, and of the European Economic Advisory Group at CESifo. Research Fellow of the Center for Economic Policy Research, where he served as Director of the Industrial Organization Program in 1991-1997. He is also a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Fellow of the Econometric Society since 1992, and of the European Economic Association since 2004; and Research Associate of ECGI. He is also member of the Board of Consultants for the Economic Recovery of the Government of Catalonia and recently he has been appointed Special Advisor to the Vicepresident of the European Commission and Commissionrr for Competition, Mr Joaquín Almunia.

From 2001 to 2005 he was Professor of Economics and Finance and The Portuguese Council Chaired Professor of European Studies at INSEAD, Research Professor at ICREA-UPF, 2003-2006, and from 1991 to 2001, Director of the Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica, CSIC. He has taught at Harvard University, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania, and New York University (King Juan Carlos I Chair).

His fields of interest are industrial organization and regulation, the economics of information, and banking and financial economics. He has published in the main international journals and is the author of Information and Learning in Markets:the Impact of Market Microstructure (Princeton University Press, 2008), Oligopoly Pricing: Old Ideas and New Tools (MIT Press, 1999), editor of Competition Policy in Europe: Fifty Years on from the Treaty of Rome (OUP, 2009), Corporate Governance: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives (CUP, 2000), and co-editor of Capital Markets and Financial Intermediation (CUP, 1993). He has been editor of main international academic journals and currently he is co-editor of the Journal of Economics and Management Strategy.

His current research interests include dynamic rivalry, innovation and competition, banking crisis and regulation, information and financial markets, competition policy, and the location of headquarters.

He has received several research awards: King Juan Carlos I Prize in 1988; the Catalan Society for Economics Prize in 1996; the Narcís Monturiol Medal in 2002; the Catalonia Economics Prize in 2005 and, in 2008, an European Research Council Advanced Grant.

Dr. Vives has been a consultant on competition, regulation, and corporate governance issues for the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the European Commission as well as for major international corporations. He is member of the board of Criteria CaixaCorp and columnist for La Vanguardia, El País, Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The Chair organizes the following activities:

• Symposia and international congresses. Regular meetings of experts from around the world to discuss issues of interest to the Chair’s research projects.
• Keynote Lectures. The Chair invites internationally renowned academics and business people to give educational presentations as part of IESE’s academic program. 
• Continuous Education Program. Some of the sessions in IESE’s Continuous Education Program (aimed at IESE Alumni and other members of the business community) are devoted to promoting and passing on the know-how developed by the Chair.

In the medium term, the Chair will develop specialist courses for IESE’s MBA and Executive MBA Programs. The Chair will also participate actively in program courses dealing with associated issues and will take part in the courses run by IESE’s Public-Private Research Center.