Compass Lexecon

What do Compass Lexecon do?

Compass Lexecon are a world leading economic consultancy firm who provide expert advice to law firms, governments, and corporations across a wide variety of issues. Compass Lexecons global practice has a wide array of divisions (such as international trade and arbitration, labour and employment etc) but the European practice focuses on anti trust and competition with divisions conduct, damages, mergres. economic policy and regulation, financial policy and regulation. Whenever an issue involving competition law (such as a merger between two large firms, question of cartel, or if someone accuses a firm of abusing their dominant market position) compass lexicon will provide analysis to assess whether laws are being breached (how will competition be affected, is it anti competitive or is there a sound economic rationale for the behaviour.) when conduct investigation lead to follow on damages, CL support their clients through the litigation process.

Why Compass Lexecon

Compass Lexecon seems like the perfect place to gain some practical experience before I go onto further study because of the mix of acadmic and corporate environment. The focus on using economic theory will give me the opportunity to use and improve the economic skills I have acquired at university, so when I do return for futhher study I am well prepared. Whats more, CL is such a prestigious company renowned for its thorough economic analysis., winning multiple awards inn consecutive years (Whos whos Legal WWL competition economics firm for 5 years in a row) and working on high profile cases. This will give me exposure to some high profile, seminal cases and the opportunity to collaborate and take inspiration from people who are on a similar career path to me but further down the line. I am also attracted to the focus on development so that I learn as much as I can in my time with the firm.

Disagreed with a coworker

During the London entrepreneurship competition, my teammate and I disagreed on how to structure and what to include our business pitch. We had both written separate pitches with the aim of combining them into one, which proved quite difficult since we had to condense them into a 2 minute presentation. To resolve the issue, we each ranked the points in our pitch in order of how important we thought they were and then selected the highest ranked ones. This was an equitable way of doing it, and our pitch secured us a place in the semi-finals of the competition.

How do you handle disappointments?

First of all I give myself a day or so to process it as I think if you aren't a bit upset at first you didn't really care in the first place. I try to identify the positive things and identify what i did right but also learn for next time, and also identify why I wasn't successful so I can be better next time.

Greatesst acheivment

Getting published in the cornell undergraduate economic review. Article I initially wrote for BE module, but I found the topic so interesting I went on to write a more comprehensive piece.

Time where you've faced a problem

The year the before I joined university, I saved up money from working at home to go to Australia. I only had money to survive there for 2 weeks so it was really important I found work. For some reason, this year there was more than the usual amount of people doing a similar thing making job hunting incredibly difficult. This was quite a stressful situation as I had just spent almost all of my money on a flight out there and I hadn't had any time to even enjoy it. I realised that the usual methods of online applications were unlikely to be successful, so I decided to go In person. I printed off about 100 copies of my cv and a reference from my previous jobs and spent all day handing them out. Eventually, I got a call as someone had quit and they needed someone on very short notice and I got a job just washing dishes.

Describe a set back you have experienced it and how you overcame it.

To get into UCL Economics you need an a* in maths a level. This also meant that most people had done further maths or studies IB. which i had avoided i only really started to enjoy maths during a level so i didnt select it. As a result, i was put at a disadavnatge in first year in year as i hadnt studies complex linear algebra and matrices. This was a bit of a shock, and in our first week we had a mthhs test which i did poorly in.I knnew maths was something i really enjoyed and it was going to be an integral part of the degree so i put a lot of time into learning the material. i even started readding ahead for future lectures so i was always on top of it. I ended up getting a first in this module, and for the rest of my degree any mathematical component in a module was always my strong point which is why i want to use it in my career.

How would your colleagues describe you

A dependable and hardworking individual. If someone is relying on me to do something I'll do It in a timely manner to the best of my ability and that's something I really pride myself on. I'm not someone to put off doing something or put in minimal effort - my work as a kitchen porter I was given increasing levels of responsibility

what is anti trust megrers

A merger is the joining of two or more firms into a single legal entity. cl provide advice on implications of a merger for competition and consumers. Must develop a deep understanding of the industry and how competitive variables (prices, product characteristics, quality and innovation are determined). Analysis includes pricing studies, customer switching analyses, bidding studies, SSNIP tests, merger simulations, entry/expansion analyses, and efficiency studies. Also provide advice to boards of directors before a deal is sign to assess whether it's a good business decision.

How do you stay organised?

Big fan of making lists. It allows me to get my thoughts in order and prioritise tasks easily and deal with multiple responsibilities at once. Especially during stressfull periods when I have a lot of work, I think breaking what you have to do down into small tasks is very helpful, ensures you don't forget anything and allows you to gain a sense of accomplishment to stay motivated.

main competitors

Mckinsey, Charles River associates, Analysis group, cornerstone research

Tell me about your research

Expenditure data is usually only observed at the household level making is hard to assess how resources are divided within a household. Usually, it is assumed that they are divided by some ad-hoc scaling factor, which normally is okay. However, in a poor household, how exactly resources are divided will determine whether an individual is living in a state of poverty so it becomes more important to get an accurate measurement. So I was assisting in estimating resource shares for individuals in Bangladesh, and in particular seeing how these resource shares were correlated with time use. Resource shares give a better assessment of who is living in a state of poverty, allows policies to be better targeting and also provides a better measure of how successful these policies are. To do this you need expenditure data for an assignable good i.ee one which is only consumed by one type of individual within the household. For example we used clothing. If you impose a collective model (which means that the households maximization problem can be represented as the maximization of a household or collective utility function subject to the hhousehold budget or equivalently as each individual maximizing their own utility function subject to their shadow budget constraint. A shadow budget constraint = resource share times by household income.If you solved these maximisation problems two equivalent demand equations. Q(y) = q(resource share x y). If you do some simple algebraic manipulation, you can show that the resource share of an individual is equal to the relative slope of their engel curve (how the budget share of clothing changes with income). Used seemingly unrelated regression model: its more efficient that a regular OLS regression when the errors are likely correlated between the 3 equations The model can be estimated equation

What is your biggest strength?

How adaptable I am. I really love learning new things so i think I'm good at learning and putting in the effort to take on new information. For example, when I worked as a research assistant I quickly became proficient in state just because I enjoyed it so much- i was watching youtube tutorials and reading about it because I found being able to do it satisfying. I also worked in a professional kitchen despite a lack of any experience and quickly became an integral part of the team, performing in a fast paced environment. I think this will serve me well when work for clients across a variety of industries.

What does your decision-making process look like?

I am methodical when making a decision. I use a SWOT diagram: strengths, weakness, opporutnties and threats. By writing things down, I find you often think of things you wouldn't have otherwise, and makes weighing up the pros and cons of a decision. i then try to give weight to these 4 categories in order to make the best decision I can

Name a time you dealt with a difficult team mate.

I have been lukily enough to work with great people for the majority of my life and haven't run into very many problems. Fretz: angry head chef who could be quite abusive. At the same time, he taught me a lot and as someone without much experience I could understand his frustration at times. To deal with this, I ensured I was well prepared for the busy periods, and didn't take his comments to heart as I knew they weren't personal

Tell me about yourself?

I have just gradusated with a first class honours in economics from ucl. This has given me a great analytical ability which I applied to work as a research assistant where I gained experience working with and analysing large data sets in STATA. I really enjoyed using data to investigate something no one had before - I find it exciting when youre doing analytics and discovering new information. Now I am looking for a position where I can continue in similar work, gaining some experience before I go on to further study.

Do you prefer working idependently or in a team

I really value having multiple diverse array on opinions when working as I think it leads to results that you wouldn't be able to achieve on your own. However, I find if im working on the exact same task as someone at the same time, this can often be unproductive as my work flow gets disrupted. So my favourite way to work independtly, regroup, discuss and then do more independent work.

Why should we hire you over other candidates

I think what makes me stand out is my inquisitive nature that stems from my real passion for economics. This gives me a drive to learn more which will allow me to gain insight that others might miss. When you combine this with my analytical ability I think I am in a strong position to make a real contribution to CL. For example, it was because of my inquisitiveness throughout the year I was selected to be a research assistant by my proffessor. This is given me experience working with STATA, allowing me to hit the ground running and also shows how adept I am at taking on new skills. When working for different clients in different industries, I think this adaptability will allow me to quickly adjust to the new assignment.

Why the research analyst role

I thoroughly enjoyed my economics degree and plan to go on to further study. Before I do, I want to gain some work experience to I can gain some insight into how economic theory is adapted and applied in a real-world setting. I think this will be a useful lens to look at economic theory in my masters. Because of the mix of academic and corporate environment, I think compass Lexecon is the perfect place to do this as it will ensure im still working with economic theory so I can hit the ground running. Whats more, as working alongside esteemed economists will be a great source of inspiration, as they are in a position I aspire to be further down the line in my career. I also really took to using STATA in my research assistant work: I enjoy data anlysis interesting, especially when you're doing it to find out something new and trying to solve a problem, rather than just demonstrating you can do It for an academic assessment so I am excited to have the opportunity to continue doing this to understand compeitionn and further my STATA knowledge at compass lexicon

A difficult decision

I volunteer at training link adult literacy program. lockdown was easing and the main person I worked with had asked if we could continue with the lessons. I hadn't seen my family in about 6 months and was planning to go home, but I equally knew how important these lessons were in helping with her finding a job. I had tried to instigate online lessons wit her during lockdown, but she isn't very technically capable, so I went to see her quickly before my train and show her how to use zoom on her phone allowing us to continue with the lessons whilst seeing my family.

how would you assess the impact of a meger

If before its happened, need to undertake some counterfactual anaylsis. This will require a knowledge of the variables which affect the way competition works, how these are determined and how these will likely change as a result of the merger. what are the market shares of the firms not involved in the merger, how loyal are customers, is there scope for economies of scale in the industry. etc If after. How did prices/markups change (is thehre predatory pricing, monopoly pricing), quality of the product, availability of the product, market shares (horizontal). If verticle, are they restricting the supply case study: Virgin media and o2 telecoms operations joint venture. Provided support to o2. Assesses the verticle and horizontal theories of harm in the mobile market. Survey to understand customers propensity to switch. Also condider the benefits of a merger: economies of scale reducing costs and mean consumers can get cheaper products, more profit for r and d may increase the number of products available

What is a model

Logical, simplified representation of the real world. Needs to rest on assumptions in order to simplify the real world. Can allow you to make inferences about the real world.

What is it about the culture that appeals to you

Mix of corporate and academic culture that will allow me to directly apply the economic skills I hhave acquired at university. This will allow me to gain some practical experience, whilst ensuring when I go on to further study im well prepared. Secondly, as an economically focused firm, theres no shortage of prestigious economicsts for me to draw inspiration from. I think it will be a great motivator having esteemed economists who have gone onto further study at university and are in a position where I would like to end up in the future. Finally, I am attracted to the steep learning curve and focus on development so I am happy to work long hours and take on a lot of new information in order to gain as much from the experience as I can.

Econometrics in modules

Policy health: difference in difference estimation to look at the effect of early childhood interventions. Getting regulur visits from a nurse giving info on health diet, how to care for the child etc saw long lasting positive effects earnings profile of immigrants and how quickly they assimilate to that of the native population. Borjas (1985): estimation based on a cross sectional data may lead to misleading conclusions, because immigrants who differ in their years of residence in the host country have also arrived at different points in time. If entry wages of immigrants change over time, then this may be picked up by the coefficient on the years since migration variable, confounding differences in immigrant cohort quality with assimilation. Internation trade module: using empirics to assess the local labour market effects of import comp in the us. comparing treated vs no treated industries (treated where chines imports grow). Wanted to capture the us productivity effects Instrumental variable solution: - Measure growth of imports from China in other developed economies (e.g. Switzerland) - Both affected by China productivity growth ⇒ correlated Rely on uncorrelated productivity and demand between Switzerland & US - could estimate Chinese productivity directly • China productivity growth may not be random - e.g. higher in capital-intensive industries, and US capitalabundant regions may be declining for other reasons

Questionns to ask

Questions to ask: what challenges have you seen people in this role encounter? what is the measure of my success? What is the most interesting case you've worked. How is competition policy changing in response to Big tech firms

Someone I admire

Recently ive been watching interviews of yeonmi park: she is a woman who escaped into china from north korea. Listening to what her life was like, the hardships shes been through and how much shes achieved now makes it easier for me to put my problems into perspective and motivates me to work hard because of how lucky I am in the opportunities I have been afforded. Incredibly inspiring how shes never given up or lost hope, and now has gone to Columbia university and is a human rights activities.

What is your biggest weakness?

Sometimes I can get nervous in front of big groups of people or someone senior. i have been trying to combat this by putting myself out of my comfort zone more for example taking a module where a presentation was part of our assessment and this has helped me gain more confidence. i also try to turn these nerves into excitement, because often the feelings are indistinguishable.

whhat to look for in a model

The data used ( a model requires calibration using data. A model is only as good as the data), the assumptions made (how much do they rely on economic theory. How reasonable are they as ultimately your goal is to make inferences about the real world), the inference that can be drawn (cant give a precise value but are they a reasonable estimation.) Must be able to control for other explanatory variables.

Why competition Economics

When there is a problem of anti-trust, it normally means the firm is in a dominant market position or is colluding with other firms to be dominant (otherwise they wouldn't have the capabilities to undertake explotative behaviour). Working as a competiton economist gives you the chance to analyse these firms at the forefront of these industries, understand why theyre successful, how the markets work , understand how a new innovation is going to change the dynamics etc . I think its an especially exciting time with these big firms comining to dominate across all industries like amazon who obviously bring benefits to consumers to being so large but also are in a very strong position to exploit there power. I am interested to see how competition policy is developed in the face of this chhannge and how it will deal with this increasing threat. This is something that could happen in any industry, so while there may be some guiding foundational principles you get the chance to analyse a variety of industries, in a varitety of scenarious (looking at a merger, or a cartel or abuse of market power).

what do research analysts do

Work under the direction of a case manager to assist with analysis of the competitive impact of a merger or the conduct of a particular organization. Data collection, cleaning and organization; research and reviewing literature to support economic arguments; communicating with the client and drafting reports. Use stata Analyse the way competition works in a particular industry using customer data, prices, costs, compeitior data /market shares,. This empirical analysis will form the basis of advice given to clients Laying the groundwork for the more senior team to provide advice to clients. I understand there is often long hours during busy periods.

Why is comeptiton regulation important

competitive business can be integral to the econnomic success of a company. when its healthy, firms are innovating, and all trying to one up each other meaning consumers beenfit from a greater variety and quality of goods and services. workers are more likely to be treated well as firms need to be able to retain the,. When its bad, product quality suffers, consumers are exploited and their hard work goes unrewarded. this is becoming particularly important now with big tech firms gaining extreme market power, which beenfdits consumers but also puts companies like amazon in a very strong position to exploit their market power.

What is industrial organization

form of economis dealing with the strategic behaviour of rims, regulatory policy and market competition. I have studied this is a theoretical setting during a game theory module. Assume homogeneous products. Cornout oligopoly: choose q1 taken q2 as given. Betrant: choose p1 taking p2 as given (same price and 0 profit) Stackleberg: consecutive. Market leader benefits the most Theoretical basis to understand strategic interaction between agents, and is something I found really interesting. Starting from a few simple rules of interaction you can reach incredibly complex and nuanced conclusions. Fairly abtracts but I feel this will be applicable to the work at compass lexicon looking at the strategic interaction between firms.

How will this role challenge you?

i think the biggest challenge for me in this role is also the thing I'm most looking forward to: learning the nuances of assessing competition in the industry. My favored module in my final year was a game theory module which included modelling the strategic interaction between firms through models of oligopoly, however this is fairly abstract and simplified (assuming homogenous products, 2 firms, static models etc). Im looking forward to seeing how to use a data driven approach to adapt and support economic theories of competition, and learn how to account for the wide array of explanatory variables. As its something I find interesting I'm sure it wont take me long to catch up

when have you had to be flexible?

in our public polciy module, part of our assessment was to make a presentation about one of the topics. i was initally signed up to do my presentation in term 2. a girl inn my tutorial who sufferred from axiety realised a week before hher presentation that she was signed up to do hers at at 9am. she said at this time she wouldnt be able to concentrate properly at this time annd it was causing her a great deal of stress. my sister suffers from anxiety so i sympathised with this girl, so i agree to switch. i had to work really hard , do a lot of reading and do a few late nights to get it done in such a short space of time, but in the end it went well and i was thankful i had got thhe presentation out of the way rather than doing it later onn when i had a heavier work load.

What is antitrust conduct

is there an anticompetitive agreement such as price fixing, information sharing, market sharing arrangements (effectively active as if they were a monopoly) (horizontal agreements), selective distribution, exclusive supply (vertical agreements). Exclusionary conduct e.g. predatory pricing. Exploitative conduct e.g. excessive pricing. Case study: NBC was investigated by the European commission due to geoblocking of certain locations (so they coildnt access pay TV movies available elsewhere)- European Commission claimes it was in breach of competition law (as it portioned the European single market by preveting access to choice of supplier). Fined 16 millions

what is anti trust

limiting the market power of any one firm

what is eoncomic /finalcial reg /public policy

strategic planning, policy reform analysis, forecasting, public finance. Compass Lexecon's policy-related work includes participating in rulemaking, requests for comments, and other public proceedings, as well as authoring whitepapers based on independent research. Our economists have performed studies on such topics as deregulations of business, data services, the impact of airline pricing practices, credit card regulations, the effect of environmental regulation on U.S. and international competitiveness, the deregulation of natural gas purchasing practices, mortgage industry issues related to Government Sponsored Enterprises ("GSEs"),

whhen have you worked in a team to produce high quality work?

the year before university i worked as an assistant chef in a proffessional kitchen. In such a fast paced environemennt, having a strong synergy with your coworkers is of the uptmost importance, as you bothh might be making componnents of the same dish so you both have to be able to deliver in a timely fashion. Whats more, every dish is incredibly important as someone is paying their hard earned money for it abd will notice any mistakes. I think this has not only allowed me to work well in a team, but also has given me a great ability to multitask in a high pressure environment. I think this quality control is something I can carry through to all my work, learning to take pride in everything small thing being of a high standard

tell me something not on your cv?

this year i have taken up rock climbing, and now i go atleast twice a week. i used to go to the gym to stay healthy, but i found thhat it can be quite stale just running on a treadmill and lifting weights. Rock climbing is still a really good work out, im always so tired after the session, but it also has a problem solving aspect to it. sometimes you look at a route, and thhe holds are placed in such a way where it looks like thheres no way to climb up it, but once you work out the best tactic, or beta as it is know, or watch someone else do it it can often be quite easy

why do you not want to continue with you business idea?

we were primarily innterested in the mentorship that would come from winnninng the scheme - i think im too inexperienced to start a business in such a compeitive industry and also lack the funding. I was looking at thhe competition as a learning experience, understanding how to make a business plan, have an opportunity to pitch to judges and perform some market research. maybe onne day i will return to entrepeneurship, but right not my focus on in economics and that is what i am truly passionaite about

price fixing is easier when

weak regulation low penalities relative to profit powerful firms good comms and trust homogenous products and output is measureable

how to assess competition in a market

what are the market shares of the firms in the industry. Are these sensitive to changes in price, quality, advertising, availability ot are they robust. How did compeititors respond to changes in price of the others -is there a market leader that the others follow? intellectual property? What are the variables which effect competition, are consumers willing to switch. What markups are firms charging- are they earning excessive profits Non price competition (quality, staff in store, large group of users, brand image) the role of innnovation entry threat

whhat is anti trust damages

when something is deemed as an antitrust law infringments, CL deal with assessing the economic damage caused. This involves constructing the counterfactural scenario which requires a deep understanding of competition in the industry and the clients business. This would require an identification of what the law infringement is causing e,g, is exclusionary conduct calling a fall in sales. Then calculate the difference between the counterfactual and factual value (and whether interest should be applied.) Have to control for other factors e.g. was their a new compeititor, general trends in the industry, managerial incompetence. Best method with vary case by case.