This paper generalizes the critical loss concept of Harris and Simons to account for a broader range of possible cost structures. Our focus on understanding the market level equilibrium for relatively homogenous goods makes it clear that the Harris and Simons procedure is appropriate in some...

Sometimes what appears to be a little, almost imperceptible change can have a huge impact on a policy regime. The recently revised DOJ/FTC Horizontal Merger Guidelines contain such a change, as the document recognizes the importance of Critical Loss Analysis in defining a market, but introduces...

The 2010 Merger Guidelines appear to elevate game theoretic models of competitive concerns to the primary concern of merger policy, while reducing the importance of market definition. Although situations in which this change makes some sense exist, we observe that, as a practical matter, market...