The Effect of Mergers on Consumer Prices: Evidence from Five Selected Case Studies

Orley Ashenfelter and Daniel Hosken
Additional contact information
Daniel Hosken: Federal Trade Commission

No 1037, Working Papers from Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies.

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.

Keywords: Horizontal Mergers; Merger Retrospectives; Antitrust; Consumer Products; Program Evaluation; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L1 L41 L66 L71 L73 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-02
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

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Working Paper: The Effect of Mergers on Consumer Prices: Evidence from Five Selected Case Studies (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pri:cepsud:160

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