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Ex ante or ex post competition policy? A progress report

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  • Ottaviani, Marco
  • Wickelgren, Abraham L.

Abstract

When intervening in markets, say to block a merger, competition authorities are constrained by the limited information they have about the social desirability of the available alternatives. Compared to ex ante control, ex post control is based on the more accurate information that becomes available in the intervening period, but entails temporary losses to social welfare and reversal costs incurred to unscramble the eggs. Through a toy model, we identify situations in which the competition authority finds it optimal to commit to forego the option of ex post review in order to avoid chilling ex ante socially beneficial mergers. On the other hand, the case for ex post review is strengthened if post-merger market conducts can signal the merged firm's private information about the consequences of the merger.

Suggested Citation

  • Ottaviani, Marco & Wickelgren, Abraham L., 2011. "Ex ante or ex post competition policy? A progress report," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 356-359, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:indorg:v:29:y:2011:i:3:p:356-359
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Andreea Cosnita-Langlais, 2016. "Enforcement of Merger Control. Theoretical Insights for Its Procedural Design," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 67(HS1), pages 39-51.
    2. Le Pape, Nicolas & Zhao, Kai, 2014. "Horizontal mergers and uncertainty," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 8, pages 1-31.
    3. Emeric Henry & Marco Loseto & Marco Ottaviani, 2022. "Regulation with Experimentation: Ex Ante Approval, Ex Post Withdrawal, and Liability," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(7), pages 5330-5347, July.
    4. Aura María García Pabón, editor & Ana María Pérez Herrán, editor & Ismael Beltrán Prado, editor, 2019. "Competencia económica : reflexiones sobre los diez años de la Ley 1340 de 2009," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Economía, number 80, August.
    5. Ariel A. Casarin & Magdalena Cornejo & María Eugenia Delfino, 2020. "Market Power Absent Merger Review: Brewing in Perú," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 56(3), pages 535-556, May.
    6. Andreea Cosnita‐Langlais & Jean‐Philippe Tropeano, 2023. "Merger selection, evidence provision, and the timing of merger control," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(1), pages 209-222, January.
    7. Cosnita-Langlais Andreea & Sørgard Lars, 2018. "Enforcement and Deterrence in Merger Control: The Case of Merger Remedies," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(3), pages 1-22, November.
    8. Tropeano, Jean-Philippe, 2020. "Ex ante or Ex post? When the timing of merger assessment is up to the merging firms," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    9. Andreea Cosnita-Langlais & Jean-Philippe Tropeano, 2013. "Ex post or ex ante? On the optimal timing of merger control," Working Papers hal-04141196, HAL.
    10. Yingni Guo & Eran Shmaya, 2023. "Regret‐Minimizing Project Choice," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(5), pages 1567-1593, September.

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