The literature on antitrust in an open-economy setting is inconclusive with respect to the role played by trade-balance on the tenor of domestic merger policy. Using a panel data set composed of US merger reviews by industrial sector over the 1997-2001 period, I empirically test the impact of sectoral trade balance on the level of antitrust scrutiny. The results suggest that larger trade balances lead to more vigorous antitrust scrutiny; thus, ‘strategic’ merger policy does not appear evident, and consumer-surplus appears to guide US merger policy even under the lure of international competitive gains.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG - (Empirische Evidenz über den Zusammenhang von Leistungsbilanz und Fusionspolitik in den U.S.A.) Die "anti-trust"-Literatur bezogen auf eine offene Volkswirtschaft sagt wenig dazu aus, welche Rolle die Leistungsbilanz für die Fusionspolitik eines Landes spielt. In diesem Papier wird anhand von Paneldaten, in denen die Berichte der Fusionskontrolle in unterschiedlichen Industrien der U.S.A. über einen Zeitraum von 1997-2001 zusammengestellt sind, empirisch getestet, welchen Effekt die Leistungsbilanzen - nach Industriezweigen unterteilt - auf das Niveau der "antitrust"- Kontrolle haben. Die Ergebnisse der Tests deuten an, dass mit größerem Leistungsbilanzgewicht auch eine strengere "anti-trust"-Kontrolle einhergeht. Folglich ist eine "strategische" Fusionspolitik der U.S.A. nicht zu erkennen. Stattdessen scheint die US-amerikanische Fusionspolitik stark vom Verbrauchernutzen geleitet zu sein, trotz der Verheißung internationaler Wettbewerbsvorteile.
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Paper provided by Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG) in its series CIG Working Papers with number
SP II 2003-19.
Length: 26 pages Date of creation: Nov 2003 Date of revision: Publication status: Published under the title: "Industry Trade-Balance and Domestic Merger Policy: Empirical Evidence from U.S. Merger Policy for Manufacturing Sectors" in Contemporary Economic Policy, Vol. 23(3), July 2005, pp. 404-415. Handle: RePEc:wzb:wzebiv:spii2003-19
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