Comparing Merger Policies in the European Union and the United States
Posted: 4 Feb 2011
Date Written: July 23, 2010
Abstract
We collect a sample of EU and US merger investigations, estimate models of the regulatory decisions, and use the models to compare merger policies. Our approach allows us to decompose observed differences into policy effects and case-mix effects. Focusing on dominance mergers, we find that the EU is tougher than the US on average, in particular for mergers resulting in moderate market shares. However, the US appears to be more aggressive for coordinated interaction and nondominance unilateral effects cases. Overall, our analysis detects substantial differences in policies, but it does not classify one regime as being more aggressive than the other.
Keywords: Antitrust, Comparative Regulatory Policy, Merger Policy, Oaxaca Decomposition
JEL Classification: L44 , K21
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation