The objective of this paper is to investigate the determinants of EU merger control decisions. We consider a sample of 167 EU mergers between 1990 and 2002 and evaluate their competitive consequences by the reaction of the stock market price of competitors to the merging firms. We then account...

This paper presents a broad retrospective evaluation of mergers and merger decisions in the digital sector. We first discuss the most crucial features of digital markets such as network effects, multi-sidedness, big data, and rapid innovation that create important challenges for competition...

Though there is a body of theoretical literature on research joint venture (RJV) participation facilitating collusion, empirical tests are rare. Even more so, there are few empirical tests on the general theme of collusion. This note tries to fill this gap by assuming a correspondence between...

We study the evolution of EC merger decisions over the first 25 years of common European merger policy. Using a novel dataset at the level of the relevant antitrust markets and containing all merger cases scrutinized by the Commission over the 1990-2014 period, we evaluate how consistently...

Regionale Beihilfen sind ein zentrales Instrument zur Stärkung der wirtschaftlichen Aktivität benachteiligter Regionen und des regionalen Zusammenhalts im Binnenmarkt. Die Europäische Kommission legt Regeln fest, damit solche Subventionen den Wettbewerb und den Handel innerhalb der EU nicht...

We investigate the dimensions through which R&D spillovers are propagated across firms via cooperation through Research Joint Ventures (RJVs). We build on the framework developed by Bloom et al. (2013) which considers the opposing effects of technology spillovers and product market rivalry, and...

Market concentration often leads to unnecessarily high prices and reduced innovation. European merger control positively affects competition and productivity, though not yet perfectly effectively. In times of increased market concentration, merger control needs to be enforced even more...

Marktkonzentration kann oft zu unnötig hohen Preisen und niedriger Innovation führen. Eine effiziente europäische Fusionskontrolle hat positive Auswirkungen auf den Wettbewerb und die Produktivität. In Zeiten von gestiegener Marktkonzentration muss die Fusionskontrolle gerade in digitalen...