EVIDENCE ON MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

* Bureau of Economics, Federal Trade Commission. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Trade Commission or any individual Commissioner. Charissa Wellford provided much of the information incorporated in the section on experimental economics. Kata Mihaly prepared the data tables and graphs. Chrystal Meadows provided secretarial assistance. I thank two anonymous reviewers for comments. Some of the material included in this review appeared previously in a 1993 Antitrust Bulletin article. 1 This review does not cover empirical literature that deals directly with antitrust issues such as: empirical methods for estimating residual demand or demand systems, simulation of the effects of mergers using Bertrand or Cournot models, or optimal antitrust policy. In addition, the paper makes no attempt to review theoretical developments that might affect how economists view mergers.

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