We analyze the optimal dynamic policy of an antitrust authority towards horizontal mergers when merger proposals are endogenous and occur over time. Approving a currently proposed merger will affect the profitability and welfare effects of potential future mergers, the characteristics of which may not yet be known to the antitrust authority. We show that, in many cases, this apparently difficult problem has a simple resolution: an antitrust authority can maximize discounted consumer surplus by using a completely myopic merger review policy that approves a merger today if and only if it does not lower consumer surplus given the current market structure.
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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number
7077.
Volker Nocke & Michael D. Whinston, 2008.
"Dynamic Merger Review,"
NBER Working Papers
14526, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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Find related papers by JEL classification: D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
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Boyan Jovanovic & Peter L. Rousseau, 2002.
"The Q-Theory of Mergers,"
NBER Working Papers
8740, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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Boyan Jovanovic & Peter L. Rousseau, 2002.
"Mergers as Reallocation,"
NBER Working Papers
9279, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions: