Robust empirical analysis has always been critical in competition economics, whether to understand the potential impact of a merger, or to measure the consumer impact of a business practice. These have traditionally been analysed using the economists’ toolkit, but with an increasing volume of data being generated as well as rapid advances in the techniques and technologies to process such data, there are many opportunities to apply techniques from the data science toolkit too. For example, the CMA’s big data analysis of Google search queries, or the use of Natural Language Processing on large Phase 2 EC mergers has added substantive and important sources of evidence to proceedings. This session will introduce several of these approaches, how they can be applied, and what value they can add to competition analysis.
Rashid Muhamedrahimov is Principal Data Scientist at Compass Lexecon Europe and leads the Data Science team. Prior to joining Compass Lexecon, he has worked both as a competition economist and as a data scientist in industry. Rashid’s focus is on the application of advanced analytics tools to competition cases, including the use and development of big data analytics and machine learning methods. Rashid has experience in a wide range of big data and advanced analytics tools, methodologies, and applications, including in data management and dataset construction, natural language processing, statistical analysis, business intelligence, and deployment of models to production. He obtained his MPhil in Economics from Oxford University, where his research focused on models of reinforcement learning in game theory.
The Masterclass will open at 6.00pm with a Welcome Address by Joe Perkins, Head of Research at Compass Lexecon and be chaired by Catherine Connolly, SPE Councillor and founder of economicsense. Registration is from 5.30pm onwards and the talk will be followed by networking drinks.
The SPE are grateful to Compass Lexecon for kindly hosting this event. Members need to pre-register, email the SPE office on admin@spe.org.uk