Industry Trade-Balance and Domestic Merger Policy : Some Empirical Evidence from the U.S

The literature on antitrust in an open-economy setting is inconclusive with respect to the role played by trade-balance on the tenor of domestic merger policy. Using a panel data set composed of US merger reviews by industrial sector over the 1997-2001 period, I empirically test the impact of sectoral trade balance on the level of antitrust scrutiny. The results suggest that larger trade balances lead to more vigorous antitrust scrutiny; thus, 'strategic' merger policy does not appear evident, and consumer-surplus appears to guide US merger policy even under the lure of international competitive gains