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Have Supermarket Mergers Raised Prices? An Event Study Analysis

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  • Daniel Hosken
  • John David Simpson

Abstract

Antitrust enforcement of supermarket merger activity during the late 1980s and early 1990s was less stringent than it had been before or has been since. For six announcements of supermarket acquisitions during this period, this study examines the abnormal stock returns of rival firms to determine if investors believed these acquisitions would lead to higher retail prices.These abnormal returns imply that investors expected that the average retail price change associated with these types of acquisitions ranges from a 0.12% decrease to a 0.05% increase. Thus, our results suggest that investors generally did not view these acquisitions as anticompetitive.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Hosken & John David Simpson, 2001. "Have Supermarket Mergers Raised Prices? An Event Study Analysis," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 329-342.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ijecbs:v:8:y:2001:i:3:p:329-342
    DOI: 10.1080/13571510110079603
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Davis David E., 2010. "Prices, Promotions, and Supermarket Mergers," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-27, November.
    2. Michael Cichello & Douglas Lamdin, 2006. "Event Studies and the Analysis of Antitrust," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 229-245.
    3. Michael C. Christensen & Dahlia Remler, 2007. "Information and Communications Technology in Chronic Disease Care: Why is Adoption So Slow and Is Slower Better?," NBER Working Papers 13078, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Ralph M. Sonenshine, 2009. "Effect of Research and Development and Market Concentration on Merger Outcomes -- An Event Study of U.S. Horizontal Mergers," Working Papers 2009-16 JEL classificatio, American University, Department of Economics.
    5. Joseph A. Clougherty & Tomaso Duso, 2009. "The Impact of Horizontal Mergers on Rivals: Gains to Being Left Outside a Merger," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(8), pages 1365-1395, December.
    6. Tiago Pires & André Trindade, 2018. "Ex-post Evaluation of Mergers in the Supermarket Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 52(3), pages 473-496, May.
    7. Timothy Richards, 2007. "A nested logit model of strategic promotion," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 63-91, March.
    8. John K. Ashton, 2012. "Do Depositors Benefit from Bank Mergers? An Examination of the UK Deposit Market," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 1-23, February.
    9. John Kwoka & Chengyan Gu, 2015. "Predicting Merger Outcomes: The Accuracy of Stock Market Event Studies, Market Structure Characteristics, and Agency Decisions," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(3).

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