The paper provides a consistency analysis of the decisions taken by the Italian Competition Authority within the 1995-2003 period, concerning its control over mergers and acquisitions. An ample database was constructed using the tools of textual analysis. This data base was generated in a...

Anti-trust problems affecting markets for intermediate goods or services raise the input costs of firms operating in downstream sectors, which often face tough international competition. Such firms lose market share, thus worsening the economic performance of the country. We try to document the...