Standard welfare analysis of horizontal mergers usually refers to two effects: the anticompetitive market power effect reduces welfare by enabling firms to charge prices above marginal costs, whereas the procompetitive efficiency effect increases welfare by reducing the costs of production...

The more economic approach of European competition policy entails the implementation of a new (normative) conceptual approach of antitrust policy: decisions become more strongly focused on short-run and quantifiable price and quantity effects. This paper contributes to the widespread discussion...