This year’s conference had a single theme: the use of evidence in decisions taken by regulatory agencies and competition law enforcement bodies. It is motivated by an apparent paradox. We likely have greater detailed knowledge that ever before about the cognitive processes at work in decision making, at each of individual, group and organisation levels. Yet there is a general sense that actual policy decisions are less and less influenced by solid evidence.
The conference sessions did not address this paradox in general, but rather focussed on the state of play for those entrusted with regulatory or competition law enforcement powers, engaged in and affected by the relevant processes, or specialised in analysing regulatory/competition decisions and their contexts.