Tacit collusion, firm asymmetries and numbers:evidence from EC merger cases

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify empirically the implicit structural model, especially the roles of size asymmetries and concentration, used by the European Commission to identify mergers with coordinated effects (i.e. collective dominance). Apart from its obvious policy-relevance, the paper is designed to shed empirical light on the conditions under which tacit collusion is most likely. We construct a database relating to 62 candidate mergers and find that, in the eyes of the Commission, tacit collusion in this context virtually never involves more than two firms and requires close symmetry in the market shares of the two firms.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.982531
Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Economics, Finance & Entrepreneurship
College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School
Uncontrolled Keywords: tacit collusion,collective dominance,coordinated effects,European mergers,asymmetries
Last Modified: 29 Jan 2024 08:03
Date Deposited: 13 Feb 2013 12:12
Full Text Link: http://competit ... 7583/pb07-7.pdf
http://papers.s ... tract_id=982531
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PURE Output Type: Working paper
Published Date: 2007-04
Authors: Davies, Stephen
Olczak, Matthew (ORCID Profile 0000-0001-6808-3832)
Coles, Heather

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