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Leading merger in a Stackelberg oligopoly: Profitability and consumer welfare

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  • Liu, Chih-Chen
  • Wang, Leonard F.S.

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of obtaining a strategic advantage of becoming the leader in the market on insiders’ incentives to merge and consumer welfare. We show that being the market leader is privately profitable for the merging insiders. We also show that the leading merger would benefit consumers if and only if the number of insiders is sufficiently small.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Chih-Chen & Wang, Leonard F.S., 2015. "Leading merger in a Stackelberg oligopoly: Profitability and consumer welfare," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1-3.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:129:y:2015:i:c:p:1-3
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2015.01.032
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Farrell, Joseph & Shapiro, Carl, 1990. "Horizontal Mergers: An Equilibrium Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(1), pages 107-126, March.
    2. Stephen W. Salant & Sheldon Switzer & Robert J. Reynolds, 1983. "Losses From Horizontal Merger: The Effects of an Exogenous Change in Industry Structure on Cournot-Nash Equilibrium," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(2), pages 185-199.
    3. Marc Escrihuela-Villar & Ramon Faulí-Oller, 2008. "Mergers in asymmetric Stackelberg markets," Spanish Economic Review, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 279-288, December.
    4. Huck, Steffen & Konrad, Kai A. & Muller, Wieland, 2001. "Big fish eat small fish: on merger in Stackelberg markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 213-217, November.
    5. Perry, Martin K & Porter, Robert H, 1985. "Oligopoly and the Incentive for Horizontal Merger," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(1), pages 219-227, March.
    6. John S. Heywood & Matthew McGinty, 2008. "Leading and Merging: Convex Costs, Stackelberg, and the Merger Paradox," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(3), pages 879-893, January.
    7. Davidson, Carl & Mukherjee, Arijit, 2007. "Horizontal mergers with free entry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 157-172, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Chih-Chen & Mukherjee, Arijit & Wang, Leonard F.S., 2015. "Horizontal merger under strategic tax policy," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 184-186.
    2. Manel Antelo & David Peón, 2019. "On Cooperation Through Alliances and Mergers," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 263-279, June.
    3. Walter Ferrarese, 2020. "When Multiple Merged Entities Lead in Stackelberg Oligopolies," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 56(1), pages 131-142, February.
    4. Walter Ferrarese, 2021. "Merger Waves Through Market Leadership," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 7(3), pages 371-385, November.
    5. Dusanee Kesavayuth & Sang-Ho Lee & Vasileios Zikos, 2018. "Merger and Innovation Incentives in a Differentiated Industry," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(2), pages 207-221, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Horizontal merger; Stackelberg competition; Consumer welfare;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L40 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - General
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

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