IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v195y2020ics0165176520302676.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the welfare impact of mergers of complements: Raising rivals’ costs versus elimination of double marginalization

Author

Listed:
  • Akgün, Uğur
  • Caffarra, Cristina
  • Etro, Federico
  • Stillman, Robert

Abstract

A common view in antitrust analysis is that mergers of complements can have raising rivals’ costs and elimination of double marginalization effects, with the net effect on consumer welfare thus unclear. We revise this view in the context of a merger between a monopolist in one market and a duopoly producer of a complement good. With linear demand and imperfect substitutability, while such a merger increases the price of the monopolized component, elimination of double marginalization dominates any raising rivals’ costs effects, increasing consumer welfare. We discuss a variety of extensions.

Suggested Citation

  • Akgün, Uğur & Caffarra, Cristina & Etro, Federico & Stillman, Robert, 2020. "On the welfare impact of mergers of complements: Raising rivals’ costs versus elimination of double marginalization," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:195:y:2020:i:c:s0165176520302676
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109429
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176520302676
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109429?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Etro, Federico, 2019. "Mergers of complements and entry in innovative industries," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 302-326.
    2. Ordover, Janusz A & Saloner, Garth & Salop, Steven C, 1990. "Equilibrium Vertical Foreclosure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(1), pages 127-142, March.
    3. Michael A. Salinger, 1988. "Vertical Mergers and Market Foreclosure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 103(2), pages 345-356.
    4. Inderst, Roman & Valletti, Tommaso, 2011. "Incentives for input foreclosure," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 820-831, August.
    5. Moresi, Serge & Schwartz, Marius, 2017. "Strategic incentives when supplying to rivals with an application to vertical firm structure," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 137-161.
    6. Nirvikar Singh & Xavier Vives, 1984. "Price and Quantity Competition in a Differentiated Duopoly," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(4), pages 546-554, Winter.
    7. Jay Pil Choi, 2008. "Mergers With Bundling In Complementary Markets," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 553-577, September.
    8. Joseph J. Spengler, 1950. "Vertical Integration and Antitrust Policy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(4), pages 347-347.
    9. Arya, Anil & Mittendorf, Brian & Sappington, David E.M., 2008. "Outsourcing, vertical integration, and price vs. quantity competition," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 1-16, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liliane Karlinger & Dimitrios Magos & Pierre Régibeau & Hans Zenger, 2020. "Recent Developments at DG Competition: 2019/2020," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 57(4), pages 783-814, December.
    2. Shopova, Radostina, 2023. "Private labels in marketplaces," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Kadner-Graziano, Alessandro S., 2023. "Mergers of Complements: On the Absence of Consumer Benefits," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    4. Michael A. Salinger, 2021. "The New Vertical Merger Guidelines: Muddying the Waters," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 59(2), pages 161-176, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zanchettin, Piercarlo & Mukherjee, Arijit, 2017. "Vertical integration and product differentiation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 25-57.
    2. Moresi, Serge & Schwartz, Marius, 2021. "Vertical mergers with input substitution: Double marginalization, foreclosure and welfare," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    3. Nicolas Pasquier, 2024. "Decentralization and Consumer Welfare with Substitutes or Complements," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 64(3), pages 449-469, May.
    4. Xu, Lili & Lee, Sang-Ho, 2024. "Port supply chain integration under mixed ownership," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 371-385.
    5. Filippo Vergara Caffarelli, 2007. "Merge and Compete: Strategic Incentives for Vertical Integration," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 97(5), pages 203-244, September.
    6. Kadner-Graziano, Alessandro S., 2023. "Mergers of Complements: On the Absence of Consumer Benefits," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    7. Seok Yang & Myeonghwan Cho, 2024. "Pricing Third-Party Access to Essential Facilities under Asymmetric Information," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 40, pages 315-348.
    8. Jean Gabszewicz & Didier Laussel & Tanguy Ypersele & Skerdilajda Zanaj, 2013. "Market Games in Successive Oligopolies," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 15(3), pages 397-410, June.
    9. Hunold, Matthias & Schlütter, Frank, 2022. "Supply Contracts under Partial Forward Ownership," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2022003, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    10. Johan Hombert & Jérôme Pouyet & Nicolas Schutz, 2019. "Anticompetitive Vertical Merger Waves," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(3-4), pages 484-514, September.
    11. Kangsik Choi & DongJoon Lee, 2020. "Do firms choose overcapacity or undercapacity in a vertical structure?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(5), pages 839-847, July.
    12. Hunold, Matthias & Schlütter, Frank, 2019. "Vertical financial interest and corporate influence," DICE Discussion Papers 309, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    13. Ramón Faulí-Oller & Joel Sandonís Díez, 2003. "On The Competitive Effects Of Vertical Integration Under Product Differentiation," Working Papers. Serie AD 2003-31, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    14. Francine Lafontaine & Margaret Slade, 2007. "Vertical Integration and Firm Boundaries: The Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(3), pages 629-685, September.
    15. Habiger, Peter & Kopel, Michael, 2020. "Strategic delegation in successive oligopolies with differentiated firms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    16. Zanaj Skerdilajda, 2010. "Successive Oligopolies and Decreasing Returns," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-26, November.
    17. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899.
    18. Gleb B. Domnenko & David S. Sibley, 2023. "Simulating Vertical Mergers," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 62(2), pages 99-118, March.
    19. Rosengren, Eric S & Meehan, James W, Jr, 1994. "Empirical Evidence on Vertical Foreclosure," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 32(2), pages 303-317, April.
    20. Hendrik Döpper & Geza Sapi & Christian Wey, 2024. "A bargaining perspective on vertical integration," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(1), pages 199-224, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mergers; Raising rivals’ cost; Complements; Antitrust;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • L4 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies
    • L5 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:195:y:2020:i:c:s0165176520302676. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.