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Common Ownership and Market Entry: Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Melissa Newham
  • Jo Seldeslachts
  • Albert Banal-Estañol

Abstract

Common ownership—where several firms are (partially) owned by the same investors—and its impact on product market competition has recently drawn much attention. This paper focuses on its implications for market entry. We consider the entry decisions of generic pharmaceutical firms into drug markets that are opened up by the end of regulatory protection and which were previously dominated by a single firm selling the brand name drug. We find robust evidence that an increase in common ownership leads to a significant reduction in generic entry.

Suggested Citation

  • Melissa Newham & Jo Seldeslachts & Albert Banal-Estañol, 2025. "Common Ownership and Market Entry: Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Industry," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 17(4), pages 260-327, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:17:y:2025:i:4:p:260-327
    DOI: 10.1257/mic.20220220
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Nuria Boot & Jo Seldeslachts & Albert Banal Estañol, 2022. "Common ownership: Europe vs. the US," Working Papers of Department of Management, Strategy and Innovation, Leuven 700180, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Management, Strategy and Innovation, Leuven.
    2. Brito, Duarte & Ribeiro, Ricardo & Vasconcelos, Helder, 2020. "Overlapping ownership, endogenous quality, and welfare," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    3. Steven C. Salop & Fiona Scott Morton, 2021. "The 2010 HMGs Ten Years Later: Where Do We Go From Here?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 58(1), pages 81-101, February.
    4. Gilje, Erik P. & Gormley, Todd A. & Levit, Doron, 2020. "Who's paying attention? Measuring common ownership and its impact on managerial incentives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 152-178.
    5. Shy, Oz & Stenbacka, Rune, 2019. "An OLG model of common ownership: Effects on consumption and investments," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    6. Basak, Debasmita, 2025. "Does Common Ownership Distort Entry Incentives In Successive Oligopolies?," EconStor Preprints 319538, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    7. Antonio Estache & Christophe Kieffer, 2021. "Does Common Ownership Influence the Financial Strategy of the French Pharmaceutical Firms?," Working Papers ECARES 2021-09, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    8. Aghaie, Sina & Javadinia, Amir & Mirahmad, Hooman & Janani, Saeed, 2022. "How incumbents’ response strategy impacts rivals’ market exit timing?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 251-263.
    9. Geng, Heng & Hau, Harald & Lai, Sandy & Liu, Pengfei, 2025. "Does shareholder overlap alleviate patent holdup?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(2).
    10. Gibbon, Alexandra J. & Schain, Jan Philip, 2023. "Rising markups, common ownership, and technological capacities," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    11. Chen, Xian, 2024. "Common ownership along the supply chain and supplier innovations," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    12. Sato, Susumu & Matsumura, Toshihiro, 2020. "Free entry under common ownership," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    13. Li, Ying & Zhao, Chen, 2025. "From shared stakeholders to strategic linkages: The impact of common ownership on supply chain diversification," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    14. Domenico Buccella & Luciano Fanti & Luca Gori, 2025. "Cross-ownership in network industries: when less competition implies less profits or more social welfare," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 203-230, April.
    15. Papadopoulos, Konstantinos G. & Petrakis, Emmanuel & Skartados, Panagiotis, 2019. "Product innovation transfer under passive partial ownership holdings," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 22-25.
    16. Ruichang Lu & Qiaowei Shen & Tenghui Wang & Xiaojun Zhang, 2022. "Frenemies: Corporate Advertising Under Common Ownership," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(6), pages 4645-4669, June.
    17. Stenbacka, Rune & Van Moer, Geert, 2023. "Overlapping ownership and product innovation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    18. Rosati, Nicoletta & Bomprezzi, Pietro & Martinez Cillero, Maria, 2024. "Critical dimensions in the empirical measurement of common shareholding," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    19. De Giovanni, Domenico & Ruble, Richard & Zormpas, Dimitrios, 2025. "Strategic capacity investment with common ownership," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 327(1), pages 340-351.
    20. Lysle Boller & Fiona Scott Morton, 2020. "Testing the Theory of Common Stock Ownership," NBER Working Papers 27515, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Oz Shy & Rune Stenbacka, 2020. "Common ownership, institutional investors, and welfare," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 706-723, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L65 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Chemicals; Rubber; Drugs; Biotechnology; Plastics
    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing

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