We investigate the impact of cartel breakdowns on merger activity. Merging information on cartel cases decided by the … average number of all merger transactions increase by up to 51 percent when comparing the three years before the cartel … even more – by up to 83 percent – after the cartel breakdowns. Our results not only suggest that competition authorities …

. We show that a social planner would further restrict trade than the perfect cartel would, and how the socially optimal …