We have estimated the price effects of two changes in market structure resulting from two changes in the ownership of gasoline refineries in the San Francisco Bay area: Tosco's purchase of Unocal's Rodeo refinery in April 1997 and UDS's purchase of Tosco's Avon refinery in August 2000. These...

<title>Abstract</title> Sunoco's 2004 acquisition of El Paso's, New Jersey refinery and Valero's 2005 acquisition of Premcor's Delaware refinery significantly consolidated refinery control in the US Northeast. The Federal Trade Commission investigated both transactions but challenged neither. We examine the...

We use a data set consisting of a three year panel of prices from a sample of gasoline stations located in suburban Washington DC and a corresponding census of the region's stations to develop three new empirical findings about retail gasoline pricing. First, while average retail margins vary...

This study measures the effects of the Marathon&sol;Ashland Petroleum (MAP) joint venture on rack and retail reformulated (RFG) gasoline prices in the four cities where both firms sold RFG before the joint venture. MAP was an early transaction in the recent era of petroleum mergers and resulted in...

Antitrust analysis is typically very fact intensive, and enforcement outcomes always depend on the circumstances in particular markets. Nonetheless, there are issues of broad antitrust significance, and it is in these areas that health economics can make important contributions to enforcement...

Economics at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) covers both the antitrust and consumer protection missions. In this year’s essay, we focus mainly on the competition-side of the agency. Drawing on a wealth of recent research, we provide descriptive and analytical information about the petroleum...

In this paper we examine the standard product market relied on by the courts and antitrust agencies in hospital mergers-acute care, inpatient services-and consider whether narrower or broader alternatives may be more appropriate to assess the competitive effects of a hospital merger. To examine...

Econometrics played a major role in the investigation and litigation of the Federal Trade Commission¡¯s (FTC) successful challenge to the proposed merger between two office superstore chains, Staples and Office Depot. Our goal in writing this essay is to describe the econometric issues at...