IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/expeco/v8y2005i3p267-284.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Insiders’ Dilemma: An Experiment on Merger Formation

Author

Listed:
  • Tobias Lindqvist
  • Johan Stennek

Abstract

This paper tests the insiders’ dilemma hypothesis in a laboratory experiment. The insiders’ dilemma means that a profitable merger does not occur, because it is even more profitable for each firm to unilaterally stand as an outsider (Stigler, 1950; Kamien and Zang, 1990, 1993). The experimental data provides support for the insiders’ dilemma, and thereby for endogenous rather than exogenous merger theory. More surprisingly, our data suggests that fairness (or relative performance) considerations also make profitable mergers difficult. Mergers that should occur in equilibrium do not, since they require an unequal split of surplus. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2005

Suggested Citation

  • Tobias Lindqvist & Johan Stennek, 2005. "The Insiders’ Dilemma: An Experiment on Merger Formation," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 8(3), pages 267-284, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:expeco:v:8:y:2005:i:3:p:267-284
    DOI: 10.1007/s10683-005-1466-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10683-005-1466-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10683-005-1466-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eckbo, B. Espen, 1983. "Horizontal mergers, collusion, and stockholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-4), pages 241-273, April.
    2. Stephen W. Salant & Sheldon Switzer & Robert J. Reynolds, 1983. "Losses From Horizontal Merger: The Effects of an Exogenous Change in Industry Structure on Cournot-Nash Equilibrium," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(2), pages 185-199.
    3. Horn, Henrik & Persson, Lars, 2001. "Endogenous mergers in concentrated markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(8), pages 1213-1244, September.
    4. Ernst Fehr & Klaus M. Schmidt, 1999. "A Theory of Fairness, Competition, and Cooperation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(3), pages 817-868.
    5. Perry, Martin K & Porter, Robert H, 1985. "Oligopoly and the Incentive for Horizontal Merger," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(1), pages 219-227, March.
    6. Szidarovszky, F. & Yakowitz, S., 1982. "Contributions to Cournot oligopoly theory," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 51-70, October.
    7. Davis, Douglas D., 2002. "Strategic interactions, market information and predicting the effects of mergers in differentiated product markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(9), pages 1277-1312, November.
    8. Armando Gomes, "undated". "A Theory of Negotiation and Formation of Coalition," CARESS Working Papres 99-12, University of Pennsylvania Center for Analytic Research and Economics in the Social Sciences.
    9. Kamien, Morton I & Zang, Israel, 1993. "Monopolization by Sequential Acquisition," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 205-229, October.
    10. repec:hhs:iuiwop:542 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Morton I. Kamien & Israel Zang, 1990. "The Limits of Monopolization Through Acquisition," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(2), pages 465-499.
    12. Huck, Steffen & Normann, Hans-Theo & Oechssler, Jorg, 2000. "Does information about competitors' actions increase or decrease competition in experimental oligopoly markets?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 39-57, January.
    13. Kamien, Morton I. & Zang, Israel, 1991. "Competitively cost advantageous mergers and monopolization," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 323-338, August.
    14. Fridolfsson, Sven-Olof & Stennek, Johan, 2005. "Hold-up of anti-competitive mergers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(9-10), pages 753-775, December.
    15. Fridolfsson, Sven-Olof & Stennek, Johan, 2000. "Why Event Studies Do Not Detect Anti-Competitive Mergers," Working Paper Series 542, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    16. Raymond Deneckere & Carl Davidson, 1985. "Incentives to Form Coalitions with Bertrand Competition," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(4), pages 473-486, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Granier, Laurent & Podesta, Marion, 2010. "Bundling and Mergers in Energy Markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1316-1324, November.
    2. Jose Apesteguia & Martin Dufwenberg & Reinhard Selten, 2007. "Blowing the Whistle," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 31(1), pages 143-166, April.
    3. Walter Ferrarese, 2020. "When Multiple Merged Entities Lead in Stackelberg Oligopolies," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 56(1), pages 131-142, February.
    4. James Gaisford & Stefan Lutz, 2007. "A Multi-Product Framework Generating Waves of Mergers and Divestitures," ICER Working Papers 36-2007, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    5. Jan Potters & Sigrid Suetens, 2013. "Oligopoly Experiments In The Current Millennium," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 439-460, July.
    6. Berardino Cesi, 2010. "Horizontal Mergers: A Solution Of The Insiders' Dilemma," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 171-180, April.
    7. Lindqvist, Tobias, 2004. "Mergers by Partial Acquisition," Working Paper Series 630, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    8. Darai, D. & Roux, C. & Schneider, F., 2019. "Mergers, Mavericks, and Tacit Collusion," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1984, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    9. Fumagalli, Eileen & Nilssen, Tore, 2008. "Waiting to Merge," Memorandum 13/2008, Oslo University, Department of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sven-Olof Fridolfsson & Johan Stennek, 2005. "Why Mergers Reduce Profits And Raise Share Prices-A Theory Of Preemptive Mergers," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 3(5), pages 1083-1104, September.
    2. Fridolfsson, Sven-Olof & Stennek, Johan, 2005. "Hold-up of anti-competitive mergers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(9-10), pages 753-775, December.
    3. Sven‐Olof Fridolfsson & Johan Stennek, 2010. "Industry Concentration and Welfare: On the Use of Stock Market Evidence from Horizontal Mergers," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(308), pages 734-750, October.
    4. Jozsef Molnar, 2002. "Preemptive Horizontal Mergers: Theory and Evidence," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 0213, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    5. Nilssen, Tore & Sorgard, Lars, 1998. "Sequential horizontal mergers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 1683-1702, November.
    6. Dockner, Engelbert J. & Gaunersdorfer, Andrea, 2001. "On the profitability of horizontal mergers in industries with dynamic competition," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 195-216, August.
    7. Petri Lehto & Mihkel M. Tombak, 1997. "Consolidations and the Sequence of Acquisitions to Monopoly," CIG Working Papers FS IV 97-22, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG).
    8. Walter Ferrarese, 2020. "When Multiple Merged Entities Lead in Stackelberg Oligopolies," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 56(1), pages 131-142, February.
    9. Zhou, Wen, 2008. "Endogenous horizontal mergers under cost uncertainty," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 903-912, July.
    10. Horn, Henrik & Persson, Lars, 2001. "Endogenous mergers in concentrated markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(8), pages 1213-1244, September.
    11. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2007_017 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Lindqvist, Tobias, 2004. "Mergers by Partial Acquisition," Working Paper Series 630, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    13. Jozsef Molnar, 2002. "Preemptive Horizontal Mergers: Theory and Evidence," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 0213, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    14. Alberto Salvo, 2010. "Sequential Cross‐border Mergers in Models of Oligopoly," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(306), pages 352-383, April.
    15. Inderst, Roman & Wey, Christian, 2004. "The incentives for takeover in oligopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(8-9), pages 1067-1089, November.
    16. Benchekroun, Hassan & Breton, Michèle & Chaudhuri, Amrita Ray, 2019. "Mergers in nonrenewable resource oligopolies and environmental policies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 35-52.
    17. Lommerud, Kjell Erik & Sorgard, Lars, 1997. "Merger and product range rivalry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 21-42, November.
    18. Patricia Charléty & Said Souam, 2002. "Analyse économique des fusions horizontales," Revue Française d'Économie, Programme National Persée, vol. 17(2), pages 37-68.
    19. Ulus Aysegul & Yildiz Halis M., 2012. "On the Relationship between Tariff Levels and the Nature of Mergers," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-40, December.
    20. Onur A. Koska & Frank Stähler, 2014. "Optimal Acquisition Strategies in Unknown Territories," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 170(3), pages 406-426, September.
    21. Fridolfsson, Sven-Olof & Stennek, Johan, 1999. "Why Mergers Reduce Profits, and Raise Share Prices," Working Paper Series 511, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 03 Dec 2001.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    coalition formation; experiment; insiders’ dilemma; mergers; antitrust;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:expeco:v:8:y:2005:i:3:p:267-284. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.