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Cross ownership and divestment incentives

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  • Stenbacka, Rune
  • Van Moer, Geert

Abstract

Even though cross ownership raises industry profits, we demonstrate that it is prone to a commitment problem. Specifically, we show that producers in a Cournot duopoly have unilateral incentives to resell their minority share-holdings in the rival to outside investors, leading to an equilibrium with complete divestments. This feature challenges the stability of cross ownership configurations.

Suggested Citation

  • Stenbacka, Rune & Van Moer, Geert, 2021. "Cross ownership and divestment incentives," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:201:y:2021:i:c:s0165176521000252
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2021.109748
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Flath, David, 1991. "When is it rational for firms to acquire silent interests in rivals?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 573-583, December.
    2. Oz Shy & Rune Stenbacka, 2020. "Active Investors, Passive Investors, and Common Ownership," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 110, pages 565-568, May.
    3. Brito, Duarte & Cabral, Luís & Vasconcelos, Helder, 2014. "Divesting ownership in a rival," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 9-24.
    4. Ángel L. López & Xavier Vives, 2019. "Overlapping Ownership, R&D Spillovers, and Antitrust Policy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(5), pages 2394-2437.
    5. David Gilo & Yossi Moshe & Yossi Spiegel, 2006. "Partial Cross Ownership and Tacit Collusion," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(1), pages 81-99, Spring.
    6. David Gilo & Yossi Moshe & Yossi Spiegel, 2006. "Partial cross ownership and tacit collusion," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(1), pages 81-99, March.
    7. Reitman, David, 1994. "Partial Ownership Arrangements and the Potential for Collusion," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 313-322, September.
    8. Reynolds, Robert J. & Snapp, Bruce R., 1986. "The competitive effects of partial equity interests and joint ventures," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 141-153, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ku-Chu Tsao & Jin-Li Hu & Hong Hwang & Yan-Shu Lin, 2023. "More licensed technologies may make it worse: a welfare analysis of licensing vertically two-tier foreign technologies," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 139(1), pages 71-88, June.
    2. Moreno, Diego & Petrakis, Emmanuel, 2022. "The impact on market outcomes of the portfolio selection of large equity investors," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cross ownership; Divestment incentives;

    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

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