March  20th, 2023, Mykolas Romeris University doctoral Law student Martynas Jablonskis successfully defended his PhD dissertation: “Oligopoly Problem in European Union Competition Law: Game Theory Perspective“ and became the first MRU graduate to be awarded a Doctor Europaeus certificate.

The Doctor Europæus certificate is an additional certification to the PhD title which is issued at the national level after several conditions are met:

• Positive evaluation of the thesis work agreed by at least two reviewers, appointed by the PhD Board, belonging to universities of two EU countries, different from the one where the thesis is discussed; the reports of the reviewers will be attached to the minutes of the thesis’ defense.
• Presence in the defense committee of at least one member from a university of a European country different from the one where the thesis is discussed.
• Part of the discussion of the thesis in an official European language other than that of the country where the thesis is discussed.
• The doctoral thesis must be the result of a period of work and research carried out abroad for at least 3 months in a European country other than the country where the doctoral thesis is discussed.

Research Supervisors:
Prof. Dr. Peter Jung (University of Basel, Social Sciences, Law, S 001) (2018 – 2022);
Prof. Dr. Raimundas Moisejevas (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Law, S 001) (2015 – 2022).

Defense Council:
Prof. Dr. Virginijus Bitė (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Law, S 001).

Members:
Prof. Dr. Krystyna Nizioł (University of Szczecin, Social Sciences, Law, S 001);
Prof. Dr. Andreas Heinemann (University of Zurich, Social Sciences, Law, S 001);
Prof. Dr. Rytis Krasauskas (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Law, S 001);
Prof. Dr. Skirgailė Žalimienė (Vilnius University, Social Sciences, Law, S 001).

The problem of tacit collusion in oligopolies ranks among the most perplexing legal issues in cartel theory. Despite decades of legal and economic research on the subject, there had been no major legal breakthrough for a while. With that in mind, this doctoral dissertation undertakes to develop the game theory perspective in EU competition law. By invoking central ideas in game theory, including Nash equilibrium, Shapley value, folk theorem, focal points, cheap talk, self-enforcement, stick and carrot, grim trigger strategies, prisoner’s dilemma, and others, it shows how game theory can facilitate legal analysis. This new interdisciplinary research direction can be called the law & game theory approach. In fact, the main statement here is that the economic analysis of law (the “Law & Economics” approach) should be complemented by the game-theoretic analysis of law (the “Law & Game Theory” approach). The work also contains several original legal solutions for improving the enforcement of Article 101 TFEU and better distinguishing between proscribed agreements and/or concerted practices and legitimate conscious parallelism. On the whole, this doctoral dissertation is the first systematic legal attempt of bringing non-cooperative as well as cooperative game theory closer to competition law and the legal audience.

PhD thesis prepared and defended at the University of Basel and Mykolas Romeris University (Cotutelle de Thèse).