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Anticompetitive Vertical Merger Waves

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  • Pouyet, Jérôme
  • Hombert, Johan
  • Schutz, Nicolas

Abstract

We develop a model of vertical merger waves and use it to study the optimal merger policy. As a merger wave can result in partial foreclosure, it can be optimal to ban a vertical merger that eliminates the last unintegrated upstream firm. Such a merger is more likely to worsen market performance when the number of downstream firms is large relative to the number of upstream firms, and when upstream contracts are non-discriminatory, linear, and public. On the other hand, the optimal merger policy can be non-monotonic in the strength of synergies or in the degree of downstream product differentiation.

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  • Pouyet, Jérôme & Hombert, Johan & Schutz, Nicolas, 2019. "Anticompetitive Vertical Merger Waves," CEPR Discussion Papers 13671, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13671
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    Cited by:

    1. Johan Hombert & Jérôme Pouyet & Nicolas Schutz, 2019. "Anticompetitive Vertical Merger Waves," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(3-4), pages 484-514, September.
    2. Christos Constantatos & Ioannis Pinopoulos, 2013. "Accommodation effects in successive Cournot Oligopolies," Discussion Paper Series 2013_06, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, revised Dec 2013.
    3. Liu, Xingyi, 2016. "Vertical integration and innovation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 88-120.
    4. Pouyet, Jérôme & Thomas, Trégouët, 2021. "The Competitive Effects of Vertical Integration in Platform Markets," CEPR Discussion Papers 16545, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Pouyet, Jérôme & Trégouët, Thomas, 2016. "Vertical Mergers in Platform Markets," CEPR Discussion Papers 11703, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Francisco Gildemir Ferreira da Silva & Renata Lúcia Magalhães de Oliveira & Marin Marinov, 2020. "An Analysis of the Effects on Rail Operational Efficiency Due to a Merger between Brazilian Rail Companies: The Case of RUMO-ALL," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-23, June.
    7. Pouyet, Jérôme & Hombert, Johan & Schutz, Nicolas, 2007. "Wholesale Markets in Telecommunications," CEPR Discussion Papers 6224, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Izak Atiyas & Toker Doganoglu & Firat Inceoglu, 2021. "Upstream Competition with Complex and Unobservable Contracts," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 58(3), pages 399-429, May.

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    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

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