IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/revind/v59y2021i2d10.1007_s11151-021-09829-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Welfare Effects of Vertical Mergers and their Remedies

Author

Listed:
  • John W. Mayo

    (Georgetown University)

  • Mark Whitener

    (Georgetown University)

Abstract

This paper extends Williamson’s (1968, 58(1):p. 18–36) classic framework of the welfare effect of mergers to the case of vertical mergers, and in particular to those in which the imposition of merger conditions (remedies) may allow an otherwise anticompetitive merger to proceed. While similarities to the case of horizontal mergers without a remedies option are present, differences also arise. Most notably: For prototypical vertical mergers, remedies may yield post–merger economic welfare that is higher than pre–merger levels. This suggests that remedies that are directed toward vertical mergers hold the promise of a more beneficial approach than in the case of horizontal mergers.

Suggested Citation

  • John W. Mayo & Mark Whitener, 2021. "The Welfare Effects of Vertical Mergers and their Remedies," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 59(2), pages 409-441, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:59:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s11151-021-09829-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11151-021-09829-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11151-021-09829-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11151-021-09829-8?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. Markus Dertwinkel-Kalt & Christian Wey, 2016. "Merger Remedies in Oligopoly under a Consumer Welfare Standard," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 32(1), pages 150-179.
    2. Gregory S. Crawford & Robin S. Lee & Michael D. Whinston & Ali Yurukoglu, 2018. "The Welfare Effects of Vertical Integration in Multichannel Television Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(3), pages 891-954, May.
    3. Helder Vasconcelos, 2010. "Efficiency Gains And Structural Remedies In Merger Control," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 742-766, December.
    4. Pittman, Russell W, 1990. "Railroads and Competition: The Santa Fe/Southern Pacific Merger Proposal," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 25-46, September.
    5. Friberg, Richard & Romahn, André, 2015. "Divestiture requirements as a tool for competition policy: A case from the Swedish beer market," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1-18.
    6. Kaserman, David L & Mayo, John W, 1991. "The Measurement of Vertical Economies and the Efficient Structure of the Electric Utility Industry," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 483-502, September.
    7. Cabral, Luis M. B., 2003. "Horizontal mergers with free-entry: why cost efficiencies may be a weak defense and asset sales a poor remedy," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 607-623, May.
    8. Farrell, Joseph, 2003. "Negotiation and Merger Remedies: Some Problems," Competition Policy Center, Working Paper Series qt9p72k8fn, Competition Policy Center, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    9. Thibaud Vergé, 2010. "Horizontal Mergers, Structural Remedies, And Consumer Welfare In A Cournot Oligopoly With Assets," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 723-741, December.
    10. Tenn, Steven & Yun, John M., 2011. "The success of divestitures in merger enforcement: Evidence from the J&J-Pfizer transaction," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 273-282, March.
    11. Joseph Farrell & Michael Katz, 2006. "The Economics of Welfare Standards in Antitrust," CPI Journal, Competition Policy International, vol. 2.
    12. Fernando Luco & Guillermo Marshall, 2020. "The Competitive Impact of Vertical Integration by Multiproduct Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(7), pages 2041-2064, July.
    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. Roger D. Blair, 2021. "The 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 59(2), pages 133-138, 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. Markus Dertwinkel-Kalt & Christian Wey, 2021. "Evidence Production in Merger Control: The Role of Remedies," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 59(1), pages 1-12, August.
    2. FUKASAWA Takeshi & OHASHI Hiroshi, 2023. "Long-run Effect of a Horizontal Merger and Its Remedial Standards," Discussion papers 23001, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    3. Dertwinkel-Kalt, Markus & Wey, Christian, 2016. "Structural remedies as a signaling device," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-6.
    4. Dertwinkel-Kalt, Markus & Wey, Christian, 2014. "Remedies vs. Extreme Options in Merger Control," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100397, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Markus Dertwinkel-Kalt & Christian Wey, 2016. "Merger Remedies in Oligopoly under a Consumer Welfare Standard," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 32(1), pages 150-179.
    6. Dertwinkel-Kalt, Markus & Wey, Christian, 2012. "The effects of remedies on merger activity in oligopoly," DICE Discussion Papers 81, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    7. Lars Sorgard & Andreea Cosnita-Langlais, 2013. "Enforcement vs Deterrence in Merger Control: Can Remedies Lead to Lower Welfare?," Post-Print hal-01668416, HAL.
    8. Cosnita-Langlais Andreea & Sørgard Lars, 2018. "Enforcement and Deterrence in Merger Control: The Case of Merger Remedies," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(3), pages 1-22, November.
    9. Emilie Dargaud, 2013. "Horizontal mergers, efficiency gains and remedies," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 349-372, October.
    10. Simon Loertscher & Leslie M. Marx, 2021. "Coordinated Effects in Merger Review," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(4), pages 705-744.
    11. Donna, Javier D. & Pereira, Pedro & Trindade, Andre & Yoshida, Renan C., 2020. "Direct-to-Consumer Sales by Manufacturers and Bargaining," MPRA Paper 105773, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Russell Pittman, 2007. "Consumer Surplus as the Appropriate Standard for Antitrust Enforcement," EAG Discussions Papers 200709, Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.
    13. Cosnita, Andreea & Tropeano, Jean-Philippe, 2009. "Negotiating remedies: Revealing the merger efficiency gains," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 188-196, March.
    14. Luis Gautier & Mahelet G. Fikru, 2024. "Welfare Impact of New Firm Acquisition," Natural Resource Management and Policy, in: Handbook of Merger Control and Environmental Policy, chapter 0, pages 105-132, Springer.
    15. Javier D. Donna & Pedro Pereira, 2024. "Structural Presumptions for Non-horizontal Mergers in the 2023 Merger Guidelines: A Primer and a Path Forward," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 65(1), pages 303-345, August.
    16. Brown, David P. & Eckert, Andrew & Shaffer, Blake, 2023. "Evaluating the impact of divestitures on competition: Evidence from Alberta’s wholesale electricity market," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    17. Cosnita-Langlais, Andreea & Tropeano, Jean-Philippe, 2012. "Do remedies affect the efficiency defense? An optimal merger-control analysis," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 58-66.
    18. Chiara Bellucci & Armando Rungi, 2024. "Procompetitive effects of vertical takeovers. Evidence from the European Union," Papers 2411.12412, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2024.
    19. Hammoudeh, Mosab & Nain, Amrita & Qian, Yiming, 2022. "The role of divestitures in horizontal mergers11We thank Jon Garfinkel, Jayant Kale, Kai Li, Gordon Philips, Anand Vijh, Thomas Wollmann, David Ravenscraft and participants at the 2016 American Financ," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    20. Thibaud Vergé, 2010. "Horizontal Mergers, Structural Remedies, And Consumer Welfare In A Cournot Oligopoly With Assets," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 723-741, December.

    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:kap:revind:v:59:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s11151-021-09829-8. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.