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Law Serials Pricing and Mergers: A Portfolio Approach

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  • McCabe Mark J

    (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Using data from more than 400 legal serials, I estimate the impact of six publisher mergers on law serial prices during the period, 1990-2000. The results suggest that merger-related price increases were substantial during this period, even after accounting for secular price trends. Furthermore, these merger effects occurred across a broadly-defined portfolio of serial titles consisting of legal encyclopedias and treatises. For other types of serials, such as newsletters and looseleaf services, these effects were not observed. Based on the portfolio demand behavior of buyers, I offer an explanation for this result based on the degree of product differentiation at the level of the individual title. Of particular interest is the purchase of West Publishing Company by Thomson Financial & Professional Publishing Group in 1996. Despite a government-mandated divestiture of more than 50 titles, the results indicate that titles published by West-Thomson experienced a significant post-merger price increase.

Suggested Citation

  • McCabe Mark J, 2004. "Law Serials Pricing and Mergers: A Portfolio Approach," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-31, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:contributions.3:y:2004:i:1:n:11
    DOI: 10.2202/1538-0645.1221
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    Cited by:

    1. Franco Mariuzzo & Peter L. Ormosi, 2017. "Post-merger price dynamics matter, so why do merger retrospectives ignore them?," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) 2016-05, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    2. Orley Ashenfelter & Daniel Hosken & Matthew Weinberg, 2014. "Did Robert Bork Understate the Competitive Impact of Mergers? Evidence from Consummated Mergers," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(S3), pages 67-100.
    3. Ivaldi, Marc & Dubois, Pierre & Hernandez-Perez, Adriana, 2006. "Academic Journals as Two-Sided Platforms: Empirical Evidence from Data on French Libraries," CEPR Discussion Papers 5990, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

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