Merger Retrospective Studies: A Review

8 Pages Posted: 9 Mar 2010

See all articles by Graeme Hunter

Graeme Hunter

NERA Economic Consulting

Gregory K. Leonard

Charles River Associates

G. Steven Olley

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: 2008

Abstract

The debate concerning whether the antitrust agencies under the Bush administration were lax with respect to merger review has led to a call to evaluate retrospectively the competitive effects of consummated mergers. Such information would help assess whether enforcement thresholds have been set too high or too low. In this article we review various merger retrospective studies that have appeared since 1990. These studies often employed the "differences-in-differences" econometric approach. While a majority of the studies found that prices increased post-merger, a significant minority found no price increase.

Keywords: Antitrust, Merger Retrospectives

JEL Classification: L4

Suggested Citation

Hunter, Graeme and Leonard, Gregory K. and Olley, G. Steven, Merger Retrospective Studies: A Review (2008). Antitrust Magazine, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 34-41, 2008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1567535

Graeme Hunter

NERA Economic Consulting ( email )

1166 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
United States

Gregory K. Leonard (Contact Author)

Charles River Associates ( email )

601 12th Street
Ste. 1500
Oakland, CA 94607
United States
510-595-2706 (Phone)

G. Steven Olley

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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