IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/indorg/v26y2008i3p803-810.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Partial coordination and mergers among quantity-setting firms

Author

Listed:
  • Escrihuela-Villar, Marc

Abstract

We analyze horizontal mergers in a collusive environment by using an infinitely repeated game where (i) a subset of collusive firms is exogenously given and (ii) partially collusive arrangements are allowed for. We show that, in our model, there is no clear relation between the existence of mergers and full collusion at equilibrium. However, we demonstrate that the presence of mergers generally leads to a price increase. Also, we show that cartel firms have less incentives to merge than firms in a Cournot oligopoly, and that collusion increases fringe firms' incentives to merge.

Suggested Citation

  • Escrihuela-Villar, Marc, 2008. "Partial coordination and mergers among quantity-setting firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 803-810, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:indorg:v:26:y:2008:i:3:p:803-810
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167-7187(07)00080-X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Spector, David, 2003. "Horizontal mergers, entry, and efficiency defences," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(10), pages 1591-1600, December.
    2. Farrell, Joseph & Shapiro, Carl, 1990. "Horizontal Mergers: An Equilibrium Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(1), pages 107-126, March.
    3. James W. Friedman, 1971. "A Non-cooperative Equilibrium for Supergames," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 38(1), pages 1-12.
    4. Davidson, Carl & Deneckere, Raymond, 1984. "Horizontal mergers and collusive behavior," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 117-132, June.
    5. Compte, Olivier & Jenny, Frederic & Rey, Patrick, 2002. "Capacity constraints, mergers and collusion," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-29, January.
    6. Fauli-Oller, Ramon, 1997. "On merger profitability in a Cournot setting," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 75-79, January.
    7. Cheung, Francis K., 1992. "Two remarks on the equilibrium analysis of horizontal merger," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 119-123, September.
    8. Verboven, Frank, 1997. "Collusive behavior with heterogeneous firms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 121-136, May.
    9. Claude d'Aspremont & Alexis Jacquemin & Jean Jaskold Gabszewicz & John A. Weymark, 1983. "On the Stability of Collusive Price Leadership," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 16(1), pages 17-25, February.
    10. Margaret Levenstein & Valerie Suslow & Lynda Oswald, 2003. "International Price-Fixing Cartels and Developing Countries: A Discussion of Effects and Policy Remedies," NBER Working Papers 9511, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Huck, Steffen & Konrad, Kai A. & Muller, Wieland, 2001. "Big fish eat small fish: on merger in Stackelberg markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 213-217, November.
    12. Donsimoni, Marie-Paule & Economides, Nicholas S & Polemarchakis, Herakles M, 1986. "Stable Cartels," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 27(2), pages 317-327, June.
    13. Abreu, Dilip, 1986. "Extremal equilibria of oligopolistic supergames," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 191-225, June.
    14. Reinhard Selten, 1973. "A Simple Model of Imperfect Competition, where 4 are Few and 6 are Many," Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers 008, Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University.
    15. Abreu, Dilip, 1988. "On the Theory of Infinitely Repeated Games with Discounting," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 383-396, March.
    16. Osborne, Dale K, 1976. "Cartel Problems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(5), pages 835-844, December.
    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. Stefano Colombo, 2016. "Mixed oligopolies and collusion," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 118(2), pages 167-184, June.
    2. Roman Inderst & Frank P. Maier-Rigaud & Ulrich Schwalbe, 2014. "Umbrella Effects," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 739-763.
    3. Grüb, Jens, 2019. "Mergers and partial tacit collusion," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 15-2019, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    4. Iwan Bos & Joseph E. Harrington, Jr, 2010. "Endogenous cartel formation with heterogeneous firms," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 41(1), pages 92-117, March.
    5. Escrihuela-Villar Marc, 2016. "On Merger Profitability and the Intensity of Rivalry," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 1203-1212, April.
    6. Trost, Michael, 2022. "Unraveling the spreading pattern of collusively effective competition clauses," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 01-2022, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    7. Filipa Mota & João Correia-da-Silva & Joana Pinho, 2023. "Public–Private Collusion," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 62(4), pages 393-417, June.
    8. Marc Escrihuela-Villar & Jorge Guillén, 2014. "On The Sustainability Of Collusion In A Differentiated Oligopoly With A Cartel And A Fringe," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(S1), pages 132-137, December.
    9. Marc Escrihuela-Villar & Carlos Gutiérrez-Hita, 2018. "Imperfect collusion in an asymmetric duopoly," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 45(1 Year 20), pages 29-50, June.
    10. Marc Escrihuela-Villar & Jorge Guillén, 2014. "On the Relationship Between Innovation and Product Market Competition," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 65(4), pages 543-557, December.
    11. Escrihuela-Villar, Marc, 2011. "On Welfare Effects Of Horizontal Mergers With Product Differentiation," Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science, Universidad ESAN, vol. 16(30), pages 7-12.
    12. Escrihuela-Villar Marc & Ferrarese Walter, 2019. "Horizontal Mergers in a Dynamic Cournot Market: Solving the Free Riding Issue Without Efficiency Gains," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(4), pages 1-14, October.
    13. Darong DAI & Kunrong SHEN, 2014. "Stochastic evolutionary cartel formation," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(1(590)), pages 7-26, January.
    14. repec:agr:journl:v:1(590):y:2014:i:1(590):p:7-26 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Marc Escrihuela-Villar, 2013. "On merger in a collusive Stackelberg market," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(3), pages 2394-2401.
    16. Keisuke Hattori & Lin Ming Hsin, 2014. "Complementary Alliances in Composite Good Markets with Network Structure," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82(1), pages 33-51, January.
    17. Marc Escrihuela-Villar & Jorge Guillen, 2011. "On Collusion and Industry Size," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 12(1), pages 31-40, May.
    18. Trost, Michael, 2021. "The collusive efficacy of competition clauses in Bertrand Markets with capacity-constrained retailers," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 04-2021, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    19. Filomena Garcia & Jose Manuel Paz y Miño & Gustavo Torrens, 2020. "The merger paradox, collusion, and competition policy," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(6), pages 2051-2081, December.
    20. Marc Escrihuela-Villar, 2016. "On the price effects of collusion and the number of firms," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(3), pages 1694-1704.

    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. Escrihuela-Villar Marc & Ferrarese Walter, 2019. "Horizontal Mergers in a Dynamic Cournot Market: Solving the Free Riding Issue Without Efficiency Gains," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(4), pages 1-14, October.
    2. Kaplow, Louis & Shapiro, Carl, 2007. "Antitrust," Handbook of Law and Economics, in: A. Mitchell Polinsky & Steven Shavell (ed.), Handbook of Law and Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 15, pages 1073-1225, Elsevier.
    3. Mariana Cunha & Paula Sarmento, 2014. "Does Vertical Integration Promote Downstream Incomplete Collusion? An Evaluation of Static and Dynamic Stability," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-38, March.
    4. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899, January.
    5. António Brandão & Joana Pinho & Hélder Vasconcelos, 2014. "Asymmetric Collusion with Growing Demand," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 429-472, December.
    6. Switgard Feuerstein, 2005. "Collusion in Industrial Economics—A Survey," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 163-198, December.
    7. Marc Escrihuela-Villar & Jorge Guillen, 2011. "On Collusion and Industry Size," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 12(1), pages 31-40, May.
    8. Marc Escrihuela-Villar, 2009. "A note on cartel stability and endogenous sequencing with tacit collusion," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 96(2), pages 137-147, March.
    9. Michael Higl & Peter Welzel, 2005. "Intra-firm Coordination and Horizontal Merger," Discussion Paper Series 269, Universitaet Augsburg, Institute for Economics.
    10. Emilie Dargaud, 2006. "Mergers and collusion with asymmetric capacities," Post-Print halshs-00140138, HAL.
    11. Lars-Hendrik Röller & Johan Stennek & Frank Verboven, 2006. "Efficiency Gains from Mergers," Chapters, in: Fabienne IIzkovitz & Roderick Meiklejohn (ed.), European Merger Control, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Brito, Duarte & Ribeiro, Ricardo & Vasconcelos, Helder, 2018. "Quantifying the coordinated effects of partial horizontal acquisitions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 108-149.
    13. repec:lic:licosd:43022 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Lindblom Ted & Mallios Aineas & Sjögren Stefan, 2024. "A Theoretical Analysis of Collusion Involving Technology Licensing Under Diseconomies of Scale," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 24(1), pages 263-297, January.
    15. Leonardo Madio & Aldo Pignataro, 2022. "Collusion sustainability with a capacity constrained firm," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0295, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    16. Emmanuel Dechenaux & Dan Kovenock, 2011. "Endogenous rationing, price dispersion and collusion in capacity constrained supergames," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 47(1), pages 29-74, May.
    17. Johannes Paha, 2010. "Simulation and Prosecution of a Cartel with Endogenous Cartel Formation," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201007, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    18. Ziss, Steffen, 2001. "Horizontal mergers and delegation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(3-4), pages 471-492, March.
    19. Sergio Currarini & Marco A. Marini, 2015. "Coalitional Approaches to Collusive Agreements in Oligopoly Games," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 83(3), pages 253-287, June.
    20. Odenkirchen, Johannes, 2017. "Pricing Behavior of Cartel Outsiders in Incomplete Cartels," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168309, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    21. Etienne Billette de Villemeur & Laurent Flochel & Bruno Versaevel, 2009. "Optimal Collusion with Limited Severity Constraint," Post-Print halshs-00375798, HAL.

    More about this item

    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:indorg:v:26:y:2008:i:3:p:803-810. 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/inca/505551 .

    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.