Barbara Baarsma

Job description: managing director

Email: b.baarsma@seo.nl

Telephone: 020-5251652

After leaving school with a science-based qualification in 1988, Barbara Baarsma went up to Delft University of Technology to read Industrial Design Engineering. The following year she transferred to the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) at Universiteit van Amsterdam, graduating cum laude in Economics in 1993. She then stayed on at the FEB as a PhD student until 1999. During this period she first worked, on a project basis, for SEO Economic Research.

Barbara was awarded her PhD in April 2000, for a dissertation on the monetary valuation of environmental goods; this addressed the economic aspects of such issues as noise pollution around Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and the loss of natural scenery caused by the development of the IJburg residential district near Amsterdam. After succeeding her PhD-thesis she joined SEO Economic Research, to investigate topics related to competition and regulation. For five years (December 2002 - December 2007) she has headed the Competition and Regulation Division. Since August 2006 she has been the organisation’s Deputy Director and since November 2008 she is Director. Since January 2009 she is Professor by Special Appointment Market Forces and Competition Issues at the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Amsterdam.

Barbara boasts extensive experience in the study of the functioning of markets, having led projects covering such areas as education, the legal professions, the electricity industry, publishing and the market for school textbooks, the telecommunications sector and copyright. She also has headed studies of self-regulation, of government regulation and control, and of quality regulation in the electricity industry. Another area of interest is competition: as well as leading a project on the delineation of relevant markets, she has contributed to a number confidential delineation studies, overseen the development of a competition test for legislation and investigated issues related to market entry, essential facilities, predatory pricing and vertical cooperation. Barbara also advises on competition matters, including mergers, cartels and state aid. In 2005 she took the specialisation course in EC Advanced Competition Law at Amsterdam Law School. Finally, she has considerable experience in conducting cost-benefit analyses and monetary valuations.

As well as her research work, Barbara is a regular lecturer and guest speaker, leads workshops, acts as a facilitator in decision-making processes and frequently publishes on market forces and competition issues in both academic journals and the popular media. Barbara was chairman of the commission vertical integration in health care (publication May 2009), member of the taskgroup 'Toetsen van Referentieniveaus' (publication December 2009) and member of the inspection commission Dutch Public Broadcasting (publication April 2009).

Positions

• Member Supervisory Board Loyalis NV (member of audit committee)
• Member Supervisory Board St. Elisabeth Hospital, Tilburg
• Professor by Special Appointment Market Forces and Competition Issues, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Amsterdam
• Member of the Intellectual Board Foundation 2100

Publications

Barbara’s publications fall into a range of categories: academic – both refereed and non-refereed – popular writing, interviews, conference papers and presentations, work in progress and SEO reports. An overview can be found via the link at the top of this page "download list of publications".

Reports