The American Fiona Scott Morton has been appointed Chief Economist of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition. She should take her first steps in Brussels on September 1. A controversy around her nationality and her background – she was a consultant for Apple and Microsoft – quickly emerged. Especially in France.

Jean Tirole, Nobel Prize in economics, was the first European economist to support it, according to Politico. He was joined by two other Nobel Laureates, Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom, as well as many other renowned European economists. Le Point invites you to read their letter of support.

Letter of support to Professor Fiona Scott Morton, appointed as DG Competition Chief Economist

“As European economists, we are fully committed to a strong European presence in the regulation of digital platforms, and we believe that the appointment of Professor Fiona Scott Morton as Chief Economist of the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission will contribute to this presence. We wholeheartedly agree with the statements made in Politico by Professor Jean Tirole: Scott Morton is one of the world’s leading economists in the field of industrial economics, a major contributor to policy thinking on technology regulation and strongly motivated by public service; the European Commission and, more broadly, we Europeans, are very lucky to have attracted someone of such stature.

Scott Morton has extensive experience, having served both as an expert witness in competition cases and as an antitrust officer in the Obama administration. Over the past five years, she has worked tirelessly to convince US policymakers to modernize the regulation of big tech companies and has contributed significantly to European discussions around DMA (Digital Markets Legislation) and other regulations. . She is undoubtedly a world-class expert on the European regulatory and competitive environment. DG Competition is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading competition policy enforcement agencies. We support its efforts to recruit the best possible employees to serve European citizens, regardless of their nationality. »

The signatories, on July 18, 2023, at 9:30 a.m. (Toulouse time)

Philippe Aghion, Collège de FranceAlberto Banal Estañol, Universitat Pompeu FabraOriana Bandiera, Sir Anthony Atkinson Chair in Economics, London School of EconomicsÖzlem Bedre-Defolie, ESMT BerlinOlivier Blanchard, Peterson Institute for International EconomicsLuis Cabral, Professor of Economics, Stern School of Business, New York UniversityEmilio Calvano, Università degli studi di Roma – Tor VergataGiacomo Calzolari, European University InstituteEstelle Cantillon, Université Libre de BruxellesJacques Crémer, Toulouse School of EconomicsAlexandre de Cornière, Toulouse School of EconomicsJan De Loecker, KU Leuven and CEPRVincenzo Denicolò, Bocconi UniversityMathias Dewatripont, Professor of Economics, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Free University of Brussels)Tomaso Duso, DIW Berlin

Ernst Fehr, University of ZurichDietmar Harhoff, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and CompetitionOliver Hart, Harvard UniversityJustus Haucap, Duesseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE), University of DüsseldorfPaul Heidhues, Duesseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE), University of DüsseldorfBengt Holmstrom, MITYannis Katsoulacos, Athens University of Economics and BusinessBotond Koszegi, Behavior ; Inequality Research Institute and University of BonnSimon Jäger, IZA and MITBruno Jullien, Toulouse School of EconomicsHeiko Karle, Frankfurt School of Finance