An Overview of Transparency at the Federal Trade Commission: Generalities and Innovations in Merger Analysis - Updated

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of sixteen papers in the informal Transparency Project, a comprehensive study of the Federal Trade Commission’s merger files that grew out of the 2004 Horizontal Merger Investigation data release. Analysis is presented for market definition, structure, competitive effects, entry, and efficiencies. Most of the papers follow the same basic structure; they introduce an issue related to the Merger Guidelines, review the files and generalize from the results. Commission staff appears to apply a wide range of models to evaluate mergers. Of particular interest are the innovations in merger analysis, including, but not limited too, the concept of a significant competitor, the use of evidence to test structural models and the application of Net Present Value to entry analysis. .

Keywords: Mergers, Federal Trade Commission, Transparency

JEL Classification: K21, l40