Skip to main content

Mergers

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Multi-Market Antitrust Economics
  • 578 Accesses

Abstract

Mergers between firms can have anti-competitive consequences, to a degree that depends on the number of merging firms and on the industries in which the firms operate. If the firms are in the same industry, and if there are many that merge into one firm, the situation is like going from pure competition to pure monopoly, with starkly anti-competitive effects—see Chap. 2 for discussion. If there are few firms in an industry to start with, merging few into one is less dramatic than merging many to one, and merger effects may be less severe.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Buccirossi, P. (2008). Handbook of antitrust economics. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cournot, A. (1838). Researches into the Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth. Translated by Nathaniel T. Bacon, with a Bibliography of Mathematical Economics by Irving Fisher, and published by The Macmillan Company (1897, New York, NY).

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, P., & Garcés, E. Quantitative techniques for competition and antitrust analysis. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrell, J., & Shapiro, C. (1990). Horizontal mergers: An equilibrium analysis. American Economic Review, 80, 107–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrell, J., & Shapiro C. (2010a). Antitrust evaluation of horizontal mergers: An economic alternative to market definition. The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, 10, 9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrell J., & Shapiro C. (2010b). Upward pricing pressure and critical loss analysis: Response. CPI Antitrust Journal, 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faulkner, D., Teerikangas, S., & Joseph, R. J. (2012). The handbook of mergers and acquisitions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hausman J, Moresi, S., & Rainey, M. (2011). Unilateral effects of mergers with general linear demand. Economic Letters, 111, 119–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hay, G. A., & Werden, G. J. (1993). Horizontal mergers: Law, policy, and economics. American Economic Review, 83(2), 173–177; Papers and proceedings of the one hundred and fifth meeting of the American Economic Association (May 1993), pp. 173–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kreps, D. M. (1990). A course in microeconomic theory. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mas-Collel, A., Whinston, M. D., & Green, J. R. (1995). Microeconomics theory. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicholson, W., & Snyder, C. M. (2012). Microeconomic theory: Basic principles and extensions (11th ed.). New York, NY: Cengage Learning.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, C. (1989). Theories of oligopoly behavior. In R. Schmalensee & R. D. Willig (Eds.), Handbook of industrial organization (Vol. I, pp. 329–414). Amsterdam: North-Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, G. J. (1964). A theory of oligopoly. Journal of Political Economy, 72, 44–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Varian, H. R. (1992). Microeconomic analysis (3rd ed.). New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, O. (1968). Economies as an antitrust defense: The welfare tradeoffs. American Economic Review, 58, 18–36.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Gilbert, S. (2018). Mergers. In: Multi-Market Antitrust Economics. Quantitative Perspectives on Behavioral Economics and Finance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69386-6_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69386-6_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69385-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69386-6

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics