Why do mergers occur, what are their effects on social welfare and which are the best economic policies toward them? These three questions have been puzzling industrial economists since the end of the last century when the first great merger wave occurred in the United States. These issues have...

While much attention has been given to 'de-politicisation', its reversal through 'repoliticisation' is also possible. We examine 'institutional re-politicisation' - increases in the formal powers and discretion of elected politicians' - in hard cases - policies for regulating Cross-Border...

In 2005, the President of the Bank of Italy blocked the cross-border acquisition of two Italian banks for prudential reasons and formal errors. Because it became later public that both deals were not blocked for prudential reasons, but to protect domestic banks from foreign investors. A survey...