Applied Work
Selected advisory, applied, and policy-research projects — competition cases, policy and regulation, energy markets, and mechanism design.
I work as an economic expert in competition proceedings and advise public bodies on algorithmic pricing, digital markets, energy, and AI regulation, mainly in Switzerland and the EU, in English and German. Engagements run through Swiss Economics; contact me at nicolas.eschenbaum [at] swiss-economics.ch.
Competition cases
2022 – present
Expert reports and economic analysis for parties in proceedings before the Swiss Competition Commission (WEKO) involving information exchange and cartel allegations, including in the retail sector: econometric analysis of price data and pass-on, and assessment of the information exchanged.
2023 – 2025
Lead economic analysis for a car-finance provider in WEKO cartel proceedings concerning interest rates.
2024 – 2025
Market definition and competitive assessment for a major digital platform.
2023
Consulted on pricing algorithms for the market-definition work in the review of a major cross-border merger.
2022 – 2023
Expert work in proceedings on relative market power under the Cartel Act provisions in force since 2022: alternative sources of supply, effects on consumers, and objective justification, including analysis of international price differences.
Policy and regulation
2026 – present
Study on modern pricing methods, pricing algorithms, and risks of collusion for the European Commission (DG COMP). I lead the competition-economics analysis, in particular on third-party algorithmic pricing; Swiss Economics is the only competition-economics consultancy in the consortium.
2025 – present
Regulatory impact assessment of options for regulating how AI systems use copyright-protected works, for the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI).
2025 – 2026
Regulatory frameworks for financial and digital diversification: AI-assisted comparison of more than 90 countries, identifying what supports or constrains providers of savings and payment services.
2024 – 2025
Market power and switching costs in the foundation-models market — enterprise survey and analysis, European AI & Society Fund Global Fellowship.
2024 – 2025
Incentive effects of noise charges for late-evening and early-morning flights on airlines' behaviour, with recommendations for the charge design, for an international airport.
2022 – 2023
Regulatory impact assessment of legal protection for journalistic content online, for the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI).
2022
Feasibility study for econometric benchmarking of acute-care hospitals, for a healthcare-sector client.
Energy markets
2026 – present
APPRAISE: a roadmap of regulatory measures for integrating renewables, triggered by measurable technical indicators rather than fixed dates; Swiss Economics analyses how prosumers and local energy communities respond to the rules — Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE).
2025 – present
Research project with Swiss universities and major market participants quantifying the economic value of cross-border electricity trading for Switzerland, including what self-sufficiency would cost.
2024 – 2025
Bidding and coordination analysis in secondary reserve-power markets.
2024 – 2025
Assessment of reserve-power requirements in Switzerland and neighbouring countries, for the Federal Electricity Commission (ElCom).
2022 – 2025
Market-power analysis for energy trading platforms using multi-agent deep reinforcement learning — ChartEP project, Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE).
2023 – 2024
Price-elasticity estimation in German wholesale and end-user energy markets — Wirtschaftspolitik Nr. 47, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
2023 – 2024
Analysis of price formation on the Swiss electricity forward market, including indications of market power, for an energy-market participant.
2022 – 2023
Opportunity-cost assessment of the bids in Switzerland's first hydropower-reserve auctions, for the Federal Electricity Commission (ElCom).
2022
Review of European measures against high gas and electricity prices and their suitability for Switzerland, for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), as input to the Federal Council's decisions in December 2022.
Mechanism design
2023 – 2024
Incentive analysis and mechanism design for a Web3 platform.
2024
Game-theoretic and agent-based analysis of issuance-curve effects on staking behaviour.
Disclosure: Through Swiss Economics I advise competition authorities and private parties, including firms active in digital markets. Research funding is listed on my CV.