THE COMPETITIVE EFFECTS OF RAIL FREIGHT MERGERS IN THE CONTEXT OF EUROPEAN LIBERALIZATION

Oliver Stehmann and Hans Zenger

Journal of Competition Law and Economics, 2011, vol. 7, issue 2, 455-479

Abstract: The recent liberalization of rail freight services in Europe has created the possibility of cross-border competition and market integration for European rail freight operators. In other regulated network industries, such as the electricity sector, liberalization subsequently led to a significant number of cross-border mergers. A merger wave also followed the deregulation of U.S. rail freight in the early 1980s. It is therefore not unlikely that an increased number of rail freight mergers might occur in Europe in the upcoming years. This article discusses the competitive effects of such mergers in the context of recently liberalized markets. In particular, it draws from the experience of recent cross-border mergers that were notified before the European Commission. This article proposes several conclusions for market definition, the assessment of the theory of harm, and possible efficiency defenses.

JEL-codes: L43 L92 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/joclec/nhq026 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:jcomle:v:7:y:2011:i:2:p:455-479.

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Competition Law and Economics is currently edited by Nicholas Economides, Amelia Fletcher, Michal Gal, Damien Geradin, Ioannis Lianos and Tommaso Valletti

More articles in Journal of Competition Law and Economics from Oxford University Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().