The Australian Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Shadow Minister for Competition and Productivity and former Professor of Economics at the Australian National University (ANU), Dr Andrew Leigh delivered the prestigious Annual Lionel Murphy Lecture to the ANU on 31 October 2018.

The speech ‘Competition Policy and Inequality: Building on Lionel Murphy’s Legacy’ quoted research by Warwick Law School’s very own Kathryn McMahon.

Kathryn is interested in the way in which courts use economic theory in competition law decisions. The research referred to by Dr Leigh critiqued judicial decisions which masked unarticulated policies to prefer pro-market/Chicagoan responses to competition law over its original goal to combat concentrated market power. Dr Leigh cited Kathryn’s work six times and wrote: ‘the significant influence of the Chicago School on Australia’s courts has been documented by many thoughtful legal scholars, including Kathryn McMahon’… ‘[who] called this [decision] “a deference to the self-regulating capabilities of the market” and a clear adoption of the Chicago School’s views.’ ….’Kathryn McMahon argued that this “should have been identified as a particularly Chicagoan approach …” suggesting there was a lack of transparency in the Court’s decision.’

Kathryn told us “I was honoured that Dr Leigh cited me in his speech and took the time to share a copy with me adding a note to ‘keep up your important work’.”

Find out more about Dr Leigh’s lecture.

Find out more about Kathryn’s research.