Defending a challenged merger on the basis of synergies requires an analysis of the likely pass through to consumers of … functions. The marginal cost reductions necessary to fully compensate for the price-increasing effects of a merger, however, do … absent synergies and indicates that pass through should not be addressed as a discrete issue in merger cases. Finally, the …

Contrary to the suggestion of Williamson (1968), a merger enhancing total social welfare through the creation of … offsets the incentive created by a merger to raise price or restrict output …