The 2010 HMGs Ten Years Later: Where Do We Go From Here?

Steven C. Salop () and Fiona Scott Morton
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Steven C. Salop: Georgetown University Law Center
Fiona Scott Morton: Yale University School of Management

Review of Industrial Organization, 2021, vol. 58, issue 1, No 5, 101 pages

Abstract: Abstract In this article, which is part of the Symposium on the Tenth Anniversary of the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines, we suggest a number of improvements that should be considered in the next revision of the Guidelines. Our analysis is based on the observation that horizontal merger policy has suffered from under-enforcement. We provide evidence that the enforcement agencies face significant resource constraints that require a triage process that inevitably leads to under-enforcement. In light of merger law placing greater weight on avoiding false negatives and under-deterrence than false positive and over-deterrence, the article suggests a number of ways in which the under-enforcement bias might be corrected, including (among others): rolling back the increase in the HHI “red zone” thresholds; mandating anticompetitive presumptions for mergers with high GUPPIs, acquisitions of mavericks, and acquisitions by dominant firms; closer analysis of common ownership by financial funds; and expanded analysis of potential competition mergers.

Keywords: Mergers; Antitrust; Quantitative evidence; Concentration; Enforcement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11151-020-09809-4

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