Horizontal Merger Guidelines

Abstract

Abstract This article provides an examination of the four sets of guidelines, regarding mergers between rival firms, which have been provided to the business community by the US antitrust authorities during the past half century. These guidelines identify the conditions under which a proposed merger is considered to be sufficiently anticompetitive that the antitrust authorities will challenge the merger in court. The development of, and economic rationale behind, the first set of guidelines issued in 1968 is presented. The article then presents the three sets of guidelines subsequently developed by the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, including those issued in 2010 that are in force today. The differences in the economic methodology behind each set of guidelines are presented. The article then provides a discussion of the ongoing policy debate among several prominent economics scholars as to the relative merits of the early and newer guides.

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