Title
The Effect of Mergers on Consumer Prices: Evidence from Five Selected Case Studies
Author(s)
Orley Ashenfelter Orley Ashenfelter (Princeton University)
Daniel Hosken Daniel Hosken (Federal Trade Commission)
Abstract
In this paper we propose a method to evaluate the effectiveness of U.S. horizontal merger policy and apply it to the study of five recent consumer product mergers. We selected the mergers from those that, from the public record, seemed to be most problematic for the antitrust agencies. Thus we estimate an upper bound on the likely price effect of completed mergers. Our study employs retail scanner data and uses familiar panel data program evaluation procedures to measure price changes. Our results indicate that four of the five mergers resulted in some increases in consumer prices, while the fifth merger had little effect.
Creation Date
2008-02
Section URL ID
CEPS
Paper Number
160
URL
https://gceps.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/160ashenfelter.pdf
File Function
Jel
L1, L41, L66, L71, L73
Keyword(s)
Horizontal Mergers, Merger Retrospectives, Antitrust, Consumer Products, Program Evaluation, United States
Suppress
false
Series
3