The purpose of this note is to point out an error in a widely cited paper by Sharpe (1990) on long-term bank-firm relationships and to provide a correct analysis of the problem. The model studies repeated lending under asymmetric information which leads to winner's-curse type distortions of...

In a previous paper we have shown that the UBS-SBC merger would lead to an excessive concentration in the credit market for small and medium companies. The UBS has reacted to this paper in a series of letters to the Swiss competition authorities. We critically examine the content of these...

Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es zu untersuchen, inwiefern es der Wettbewerbskommission (Weko) gelungen ist mit ihren Auflagen im UBS-Fall den Wettbewerb im Schweizer Bankengeschäft zu stärken. Wir kommen zum Schluss, dass die Weko ihre Auflagen so lange den Vorstellungen der UBS angepasst hat, bis...

We investigate whether it is likely that the Swiss competition authority (WEKO) will approve the acquisition of Denner (the number 3 retailer in Switzerland) by Migros (the number 1 retailer). We argue that the decisions made by the European competition authorities are helpful guidelines in this...

We examine the effect of the Amnesty Plus policy on firms' incentives to engage in cartel activities. Amnesty Plus is a proactive antitrust enforcement strategy aimed at attracting amnesty applications by encouraging firms already convicted in one market to report collusive agreements in other...

This paper examines the effects the planned merger between UBS and SBC would have on competition in the Swiss banking market. It is shown that the merger would lead to a dangerous level of concentration in certain submarkets such as the (economically important) market for credits to small and...

We examine the effect of Amnesty Plus and Penalty Plus on firms' initial selfreporting decision, in one market, by altering their whistle-blowing incentives in another market. Amnesty Plus and Penalty Plus are proactive US strategies which aim at triggering multiple confessions by increasing the...

This paper studies the impact of firm and market size asymmetries on merger decisions. To do that I consider a model where a small and a large country compete in a third (world) market. Each of the two countries has two firms (with potentially different costs) that supply the domestic market and...

This short paper reviews the recent anti-trust analysis of banking mergers as well as recent decisions by the Department of Justice and the Bundeskartellamt (in the last few months). We analyse the proposed merger between UBS and SBC in light of this evidence and focus on the domestic retail...

Si la Suisse a depuis deux ans un droit de la concurrence largement modernisé et compatible avec celui d'autres juridictions telles que la Communauté, la mise en oeuvre de cette nouvelle politique doit être encore améliorée. En effet, la qualité des décisions laisse sérieusement à...