This paper studies Tesoro's 2013 acquisition of British Petroleum's Los Angeles refinery. We present a merger simulation model tailored to the gasoline market, which includes Cournot firms and a price-taking fringe. This hybrid model generates margins that are more plausible than those generated...

In May 2007 the Federal Trade Commission failed to win a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court that would have blocked the merger of two refiners that served Albuquerque, NM and surrounding areas. This study compares estimates of the post-merger price effect to the price effects...

In 2018, Agrium and PotashCorp merged to become the world's largest manufacturer of potash, from which potassium is extracted for use as one of the three main nutrients in agricultural fertilizer. The merged firm held a 60 percent share of North American capacity, suggesting the merger may have...

In a paper in the March 2004 AER, Justine Hastings concludes that the acquisition of an independent gasoline retailer, Thrifty, by a vertically integrated firm, ARCO, is associated with sizable price increases at competing stations. To better understand the novel mechanism to which she...