Economic consulting

Economic analysis for a business or legal question, such as what a market really includes or what a breach cost.

Questions it answers

Most engagements draw on a few of the parts below. Which ones depend on the decision the analysis has to serve.

Market definition: Working out which products and firms actually compete, read from what buyers treat as substitutes when a price moves.
Damages estimates: Putting a figure on what a conduct or a breach cost, with the counterfactual spelled out and the assumptions on show.
Impact of a change: Estimating the effect of a merger or a price move, using the variation a market has already produced.
Pricing and demand: Reading how quantity responds to price, and what room there is to raise or hold a price.
Competitive effects: Judging whether a change makes a market less competitive, and for which customers the harm would fall hardest.
Cost and margin work: Separating fixed from variable cost, so a claim about pricing below cost rests on the right figures.
Plain reporting: Writing up the method and the conclusions so a reader can follow the reasoning and weigh the assumptions.

Why the method has to be visible

An economic estimate is only as strong as the reasoning a reader can follow. Whoever sits on the other side of the decision will ask how a figure was reached and why one assumption was chosen over another, and a model nobody outside the room understands does not survive those questions for long. Each estimate here comes with its method and assumptions written out in plain language.

Market definition deserves the most care, because so much follows from it. A market drawn too narrowly can make an ordinary firm look dominant, and one drawn too widely can hide real harm. The useful test is what buyers actually switch to when a price rises, read from their behaviour wherever the data allows.

How to start

The brief

Describe the decision or the matter and the economic question that turns on it. Say what data you hold, even if it is messy, and by when you need an answer.

Sources

The analysis uses the data you provide together with public and lawfully obtained material.

Who does the work

Amos Weiskopf builds his economic models in code that can be rerun and checked, drawing on more than twenty years of work in software and data.

Questions buyers ask

What is economic consulting?

It is the use of economics to answer a business or legal question, for example how wide a market is or what a breach of contract cost.

How much does economic consulting cost?

That depends on the question and the state of the data. The price is agreed once Amos has your written brief.

How is this different from financial analysis?

Financial analysis reads the accounts. Economic analysis looks at how a market behaves, such as how demand responds to price, which the accounts on their own will not show.

Can you estimate damages without a controlled experiment?

Yes, in many matters. Where a clean comparison cannot be run, the effect is drawn from variation the market has already produced, and the limits of that approach are written into the report so no one mistakes them.

Will the numbers survive cross-examination?

They are built for it. Each figure is traced to its source and the assumptions are written down, so the reasoning is already on record when someone presses on it.

Do you only use data we provide?

No. Public and lawfully obtained material is often used alongside your own data, and a confidentiality agreement can be signed before you send anything sensitive.

Engagements by written brief.

Work begins from a documented problem statement, not a sales call.

Write a brief Or book a meeting