Identifying the boundaries of a market belongs to the important practices in most areas of antitrust and competition policy. While they are established practices for market definition and delineation, dynamic processes of competition and the new phenomenon of (digital) ecosystems of markets...

State-owned firms from third countries play an increasingly significant role in international mergers and acquisitions, raising concerns about distortions of competition. These distortions arise from state-backed financial advantages, preferential treatment, and industrial policy objectives,...

We discuss the main Theories of Harm in EU merger control and their evolution since the 1990s. We present stylised facts and trends using data extracted from EU merger decisions by natural language processing tools. EU merger policy has adapted over time, both in terms of legislation and...

We estimate structural, materials, and labour markups for the South African economy at the three-digit industry level for 2012-19. The fall in structural labour and materials markups found for the numerical majority of industries are generally isolated to smaller industries, with industries...

In this paper, we comment on the debate about guidelines for Art. 102 TFEU in the face of the challenges brought by digital ecosystems and abuse of dominance in related markets. We take the perspective of dynamic competition economics and derive four recommendations for the future enforcement of...

This paper explores the evolving landscape of competition law enforcement, focusing on the dynamic interplay between ex-ante and ex-post approaches. Amidst the digital transformation and regulatory shifts, traditional enforcement mechanisms are being reevaluated. This study aims to dissect the...

We investigate the impact of mergers on R&D incentives within a framework of R&D competition where effort can influence both the probability of innovation and the payoff conditional on success. Our framework nests the results of two classes of existing models and reveals assumptions that are...

Over the past two decades, large technology firms have evolved into complex digital ecosystems operating across multiple, interconnected markets. This transformation has been driven not only by internal innovation, but also by extensive merger and acquisition activity, much of which has taken...

This article examines the price effects of gasoline stations following a retail merger in 2022. Using detailed station-level price data from 2020 to 2024, the analysis shows that fuel prices increase at both merging stations and their competitors, but with regional differences. These regional...

Motivated by the recent increase in bank mergers, this paper examines the performance of German cooperative banks that merged between 2014 and 2019. We are particularly interested in whether elevated merger rates are due to bank inefficiencies or to challenging policy measures such as...

The Handbook on EU Competition Law - Rules Applicable to Merger Control gives an overview about EU legislation applicable in the field of Merger Control. The new 2010 edition includes the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty.

Since 2000, online platforms that are now within the scope of the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), have bought nearly 700 small, promising companies worldwide. However, only 19 of their attempted acquisitions were notified to the European Commission, the authority exercising merger...

State-owned firms from third countries play an increasingly significant role in international mergers and acquisitions, raising concerns about distortions of competition. These distortions arise from state-backed financial advantages, preferential treatment, and industrial policy objectives,...

Identifying the boundaries of a market belongs to the important practices in most areas of antitrust and competition policy. While they are established practices for market definition and delineation, dynamic processes of competition and the new phenomenon of (digital) ecosystems of markets...

Digital platforms, ecosystems, and R&D-intensive sectors pose distinctive challenges for merger control. In these fast-evolving markets, shaped by technological change and shifting competitive dynamics, traditional ex-ante reviews often fall short in anticipating long-term outcomes. This paper...

The rapidly deteriorating global security environment has pushed EU institutions and Member States to call for further consolidation of the European defence industrial base, with the European Commission taking a proactive stance in promoting a stronger, more integrated, and competitive defence...

Digital platforms, ecosystems, and R&D-intensive sectors pose distinctive challenges for merger control. In these fast-evolving markets, shaped by technological change and shifting competitive dynamics, traditional ex-ante reviews often fall short in anticipating long-term outcomes. This paper...

This issue focuses on non-price competition in EU merger control. Mergers may affect both price and non-price parameters of competition, such as innovation, quality, capacity, data protection and privacy, sustainability, and reliability of supply. When reviewing mergers, the Commission takes...

This paper analyzes a merger of large manufacturers with divestiture in the French coffee market. In contrast to previous approaches used to study the effects of upstream divestitures on prices and welfare, we model the vertical market structure. First, our results show that the standard policy...

Merger control plays a central role in competition policy. When assessing proposed mergers, Competition Authorities should consider its impact on all relevant markets. Large mergers between manufacturers typically impact competition, thus requiring the approval of Competition Authorities....

We discuss the design of an effective merger review policy for the 21st century. We argue that the practice of the past decades is inadequate and propose a move towards much stronger rebuttable structural presumptions. These presumptions establish that all mergers above certain thresholds are...

Der vorliegende Beitrag wendet die dynamische Wettbewerbstheorie von Wolfgang Kerber und anderen auf aktuelle Fragen der Wettbewerbspolitik an. Damit zeigt der Beitrag, dass dynamische Wettbewerbstheorien sehr wohl zu konkreten wettbewerbspolitischen Empfehlungen führen und einen wichtigen...