A growing number of policymakers and scholars are calling for tougher rules to curb corporate acquisitions. But these appeals are premature. There is currently little evidence to suggest that mergers systematically harm consumer welfare. More importantly, scholars fail to identify alternative...

The "worst opinion" of the title is not the appellate affirmance in United States v. AT&T, which put the final end to the government's challenge to the merger of AT&T and Time Warner. It was the trial court's fundamental ruling at the close of the bench trial, rejecting the government's claims....

Should internet era merger policy differ from industrial era merger policy? Platform ecosystems rely on economies of scale, data-driven economies of scope, high-quality algorithmic systems, and strong network effects that frequently promote winner-take-most markets. Their market dominance has...

The prohibition of certain types of anticompetitive unilateral conduct by firms possessing a substantial degree of market power is a cornerstone of competition law regimes worldwide. Yet notwithstanding the social costs of monopoly modern legal regimes refrain from prohibiting it outright....

This paper shows that cross-border mergers are more likely to occur in industries which serve multiple segmented markets rather than a single integrated market, given that cost functions are strictly convex. The product price rises in the market where an acquisition is made but falls in the...

The effects of mergers on the media marketplace have historically failed to live up to dire predictions. Mergers are often a response to technological upheaval and turbulence in the media industry and firms should be allowed to experiment with such alternative business models with the intent on...

Mergers lead to larger firms and a less competitive market structure, but their effects on innovation are not clear. Mergers may improve innovation incentives by promoting economies of scope and scale, R\&D activities, and increasing the ability to deal with uncertainties. However, mergers may...

The impact of innovation on mergers has been a subject of debate in merger enforcements. Firms may decide to merge because of increasing market share and expanding capacity. However, mergers may also be motivated by innovation since they provide resources for commercialization of innovation and...

Startup acquisitions by dominant incumbents, especially in high-tech, have recently attracted significant attention. Many researchers and practitioners worry about harms to competition or innovation. However, there has been very little antitrust enforcement in this area. This is emblematic of a...

This POLICY BULLETIN examines the potential impact of the proposed Cingular/AT&T Wireless merger on both (a) the performance in the national wireless industry; and (b) the potential for wireless "intermodal" competition with fixed line service. After performing both an event study and merger...