Effective European Antitrust: Does EC Merger Policy Generate Deterrence
42 Pages Posted: 1 Dec 2015
Date Written: November 2015
Abstract
We estimate the deterrence effects of European Commission (EC) merger policy instruments over the 1990-2009 period. Our empirical results suggest that phase-1 remedies uniquely generate robust deterrence as unlike phase-1 withdrawals, phase-2 remedies, and preventions phase-1 remedies lead to fewer merger notifications in subsequent years. Furthermore, the deterrence effects of phase-1 remedies work best in high-concentration industries; i.e., industries where the HHI is above the 0.2 cut-off level employed by the EC. Additionally, we find that phase-1 remedies do not deter clearly pro-competitive mergers, but do deter potentially anti-competitive mergers in high-concentration industries.
Keywords: competition policy, deterrence, European Commission, merger policy
JEL Classification: K21, K40, L40
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation