Simon Roberts Email & Phone Number

I am an expert economist straddling competition economics and industrial development. In my role as a professor at University of Johannesburg with the Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development, I lead major research projects on competition, innovation and inclusion. I am currently focusing on agriculture and food value chains in the context of the climate emergency. I have worked extensively on issues of competition, industrial development, trade, regional and global value chains, and economic regulation in Southern and East Africa, advising governments, competition authorities and regulators. My experience across many countries enables me to apply key concepts to provide advice and address problems in how markets work. My roles have included leading and managing teams responsible for the economic analysis for cases and inquiries for a number of competition authorities, on an expert consulting basis as well as in my positions as an economics director at the UK Competition and Markets Authority and as the Chief Economist at the Competition Commission of South Africa. I have been closely involved in the development of competition law in South Africa from the establishment of the authorities and I have testified as an expert witness in a number of major cases. I established the Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development at the University of Johannesburg and led it to become the leading research institute on competition economics in Africa.I have published extensively on competition and industrial development issues in academic journals and have edited six books, along with a number of journal special issues.

Listed skills include Economics, Econometrics, Policy Analysis, Public Policy, and 16 others.